The Sun's Shadow
by Trolliworm1993
Summary: Kinoshita Satsuki is the new soon-to-be Genin in the Leaf Village after tragedy strikes in her old village. How will she cope with starting over in a new village? When will she stop feeling like she's an outsider? A/N: I've decided to give her a different love interest. I can't bring myself to break up Shikamaru and Temari . btw, love interest is a surprise :)
1. Prologue

In Water Valley Village

"Satsuki, it's time to get up." I opened my eyes and saw that it was dad who was talking to me. He was already in his Jonin clothes for the day. His medium length black hair was spiked up with gel and he had his Water Valley Village headband wrapped around his right arm. I could see a reflection of myself in Dad's light blue eyes. He has a mission this afternoon. I hope everything goes well. I smiled.

"Good morning," I greeted sleepily. He chuckled.

"Good morning. If we want to get your morning training in, you'll want to get up." He said before leaving my room. I sat up and yawned a bit before stretching. It was my birthday last week and Mom, Dad, and I spent it together for once. Dad usually had to do missions around my birthday which would require him to be gone for a long time. Luckily Iwase-sama didn't have a mission for him this time around. Iwase-sama is the Village Chief. We don't have a Kage like the rest of the Great Nations. As I got ready for the day, I started to think about the village. We're a pretty small village, but the more missions we take in the more money we get. We're only a few miles south of the Hidden Waterfall Village. I go to the ninja academy here in addition to the things Dad teaches me. It's a very small school and there aren't a lot of students. There are about six ninja families in this village and the rest of the kids in this village don't possess enough chakra to do ninjutsu. That didn't stop them though. Most of them are learning taijutsu from Kouta-sensei, including myself. Kouta-sensei specializes in taijutsu but he can do ninjutsu and genjutsu too. Also, Kouta-sensei is my homeroom teacher. He's very strict and doesn't tolerate what he calls foolishness. Basically, if you don't take his class seriously, you'll get yelled at and punished for it.

I don't find it very fair, but there isn't anything I can do about that. Kouta-sensei is good friends with Dad, but that didn't change anything for me. He treats me just like all the other students. I'm glad though. I don't want kids picking on me because they know that Kouta-sensei is good friends with Dad. I finally made it into the kitchen where Mom and Dad are talking and eating breakfast. "Good morning, Mom." I greeted her smiling.

"Good morning, Satsuki." She said smiling warmly at me. She has a really pretty smile. She has long black hair and green eyes. Her head reaches Dad's shoulder. She is really kind and warm and cares a lot about Dad and I. She does a lot of work in the village's fabric store by making clothes. Every once in awhile she'll help out at the flower shop and I like to go with her. Dad in his free time likes to help with carpentry around the village and spends time at the academy teaching students how to throw kunai and shuriken. "I hear your friend, Kaori, fainted in class yesterday." Mom said looking concerned.

"She's okay, Mom. I talked to her last night before I came home. She said she just had a dizzy spell. The doctor said she was just dehydrated." I said shrugging. "So her mom is making her carry around a water bottle now."

"That's good news." Dad said smiling. We quickly eat breakfast and finally Dad and I continue my training. Today Dad and I are going to go for a run and then Dad is going to teach me the Water Clone jutsu. I'm so excited. Last week he taught me the Hidden in the Mist jutsu and the week before that he showed me the Hidden in the Water jutsu! He said I was doing great and was proud of me for mastering them so quickly and I'm not even a Genin yet! I'm supposed to graduate from the academy in a few months time. We stopped in a clearing by a lake and took a breather by sitting down in the grass. "Okay, let me show you how to form the signs." Dad said standing up. I stood up eagerly. He showed me the tiger seal. I mimicked him. "Good job. Now all you do is focus your chakra and say, Water Style: Water Clone Jutsu!" And suddenly water swirled around the air next to him and became a perfect copy of Dad.

"Wow! That looks awesome!" I said jumping up and down while flailing my arms around. He laughed.

"Why don't you give it a try?" He said smiling at me.

"Okay! Here goes!" I said before making the tiger seal. I focused my chakra and then. "Water Style: Water Clone Jutsu!" I felt the water form but then it fell and soaked my feet. "Aw."

"Don't be discouraged. This is only your first try. I'm sure you'll get the hang of it the more you practice." He said rubbing the top of my head. I smiled.

"Okay!" I said excitedly.

"Oh, it's time for you to go to school." He said looking towards the direction of the house. I sighed.

"Okay," I said pouting. He chuckled.

"Don't worry. My mission shouldn't last more than a day or two. So we can work more on this when I get back, okay?" He said hugging me.

"Okay, Dad." I said hugging him back. I went back to the house, grabbed my school bag, and ran all the way to the school.

"Hey, Satsuki!" I heard a voice greet me from next to me. I looked over and saw Kaori with her short brown hair and blue eyes. Her water bottle was strapped to her bag which was flailing in the wind as she ran next to me. I smiled.

"Good morning, Kaori." I greeted her.

"Running to school again?" She asked grinning.

"You know it!" I said grinning back. After school, Kaori and I decided to play on the playground with a few kids from our class and as the sun was about to set, Mom came to pick me up. I waved to the other kids and walked home with Mom.

"Since Dad isn't going to be home, what do you want for dinner?" She asked me as we turned the corner to house.

"Hm..." I said frowning. "I want whatever Mom makes! Because everything Mom makes is delicious!" Mom laughed.

"Okay, I'll surprise you then." She said smiling at me. We finally made it home and were surprised to see Dad was sitting in the kitchen. He looked troubled about something.

"Dad, what's wrong? Why are you home? I thought you had a mission." I asked confused. He smiled.

"I did have a mission. I was only gone for a few hours, but silly me went and injured myself." He said pointing to his right leg.

"What's wrong?" I asked frowning.

"Dear, what happened?" Mom asked worriedly.

"I damaged the nerves in my right leg, so I can't run or walk on it properly." He said looking sad.

"So you can't do ninjutsu anymore?" I asked worriedly. He smiled sadly.

"I'm afraid so, sweetheart." He said looking down at the table. I ran over to him and hugged him.

"It's okay, Dad. I know you did your best." I said smiling. He chuckled.

"Thank you, Satsuki." He said hugging me back. Weeks pass and the only thing Dad can do for the village is continue with the carpentry wherever it's needed. People start to talk about what happened to Dad and apparently an enemy ninja from the Hidden Sound Village was the one who damaged his leg. I was really getting tired of kids and adults alike talking bad about my dad. He did his best and that's all that should matter right? Why are they being so mean to him after he protected our village so bravely? One evening, Dad pulled me aside. "Satsuki, I want you to have this." He said handing me a black necklace with a blue pendant on the end.

"It's so pretty!" I said smiling widely. "Thank you Dad! I love it!" I hugged him and he hugged me back.

"I'm glad you love it." He said smiling. "Keep it safe and keep it with you always. Think of it as me watching over you when I'm not around."

"Why wouldn't you be around?" I asked confused.

"I didn't mean it like that." He said chuckling. "I just found it today and thought it would look very pretty on my little girl."

"Thank you, Dad." I said smiling. After dinner, Dad tucked me into bed and I fell asleep rather quickly. I was very tired from working on the Water Clone Jutsu earlier. Dad said I was getting better at it. A loud noise woke me up in the middle of the night and I got up to investigate it. I heard Mom scream and immediately found her and Dad in the kitchen. Only they weren't alone. Two men were in there as well surrounded by a lot of broken wood and glass. The one thing that caught my eye was the headbands on their heads. They were Sound ninja!

"What do you want?" Dad asked them as Mom ran over to me and hid me behind her.

"We believe you have something of ours." One of the Sound ninja said glaring at Dad.

"What you're looking for isn't here." Dad said glaring at them.

"Then we'll burn down this entire village to look for it if we have to." The other Sound ninja threatened. I was scared and stepped back until I was up against a wall. What were these ninja going to do?

"It's not in this village either!" Dad said frowning.

"Then we'll take you so you can show us!" The first Sound ninja said before knocking Dad out. "We'll be borrowing him." And then they were gone!

"Dad!" I cried out as tears welled up in my eyes. "Mom, what do we do?"

"Shh, it's going to be okay." Mom said sitting in front of me and hugging me.

"What if they kill him?" I whispered.

"They won't. Kouta-san won't allow it." She said sounding determined. I nodded and we just sat at the kitchen table until either Dad came back or something happened. A few days pass and finally something happened. The Sound ninja brought Dad back, but he wasn't breathing anymore. His body was bruised and battered and from the looks of it, he was probably stabbed to death. I cried nonstop for days. Iwase-sama arranged a funeral for Dad and then it was as if Dad never existed to these people. Nobody talked about him or what happened that night and it made me angry. I yelled at a few adults and that ended up with me getting slapped for it. And then everyone started talking bad about Dad, like he never did anything for the village. The other kids, including Kaori, started throwing rocks at me and calling me names because they believed everything the adults said about Dad. I kept the necklace Dad gave me and Mom gave me his headband. She said she wanted me to remember him as he was before he had his leg injured. Finally after having a mental breakdown, Mom decided that enough was enough and we moved to the Hidden Leaf Village.

 **Okay, sooooooo I made up my own village guys (I even made up an emblem for them!)! I hope this chapter does it justice in explaining what the village is like and what not. Also, I'm sorry the name of the village is so lame . I'm obviously not that creative. I mean my original name for this story was Mystic Blue, but then I used a book title generator and got inspiration from one of the generated titles and now it's The Sun's Shadow! But yeah, um... I tried to write this once already and ended up re-writing it. So this is the re-write version and I've definitely gotten farther in this version than I did in the original! I hope you like this story :3 Literally this is only the second time I've tried to write a Naruto fanfic. The first time was when I was in high school and it was crap. Actually, now that I think about it. This re-write is a re-write of my first Naruto fanfic, because it was supposed to be a romance between an OC and Shikamaru. Honestly, I cringe every time I think about it. It was HORRIBLE. But yeah. Um, I'm going to go and let you get on with your life! Thanks again for reading and let me know what you think! :D**

 **I changed my avatar picture to a picture of what the emblem for the village is. Go easy on me, I made it in Paint lol**


	2. Chapter 1

In the Hidden Leaf Village

Mom and I are about to talk to Third Hokage-sama. I'm nervous and even though she doesn't show it, I know Mom is nervous too. "Come in!" A voice called out from behind the door and Mom slowly opened the door. Third Hokage-sama was sitting behind a desk, smoking a pipe and he was definitely an old man. I didn't want to disrespect him. "Tell me why you have come to the Hidden Leaf." Mom nodded, looking sad.

"My husband was killed by some ninja, Hokage-sama. I'm not asking you to help us get revenge. I just want a better life for my daughter." Mom said frowning.

"What about the Water Valley village that you've come from?" He asked curiously. Mom shook her head.

"They haven't been very supportive. If anything, they're just making things worse for my daughter and myself. I understand that you have to run back-up checks on us and I consent." Mom said looking determined. That seemed to surprise Hokage-sama. He smiled.

"Yes, we do have to conduct them. I'm glad that you have given us consent. You may stay at the Inn until the results come back." He said before nodding to a man that was standing next to him. This man, by the looks of it, was a shinobi of the Leaf. He had long brown hair pulled back into a ponytail and he had a scar the shape of an x across his face. "Iruka, I'll leave everything to you."

"Yes, sir!" Iruka-san said nodding.

"Thank you, Hokage-sama, for giving us a chance." Mom said smiling, tears on the brink of rolling down her face.

"It's only fair, Kinoshita-san." He said nodding to her. I bowed to him respectfully before we followed Iruka-san out.

"I'm Iruka and I teach at the academy here." Iruka-sensei introduced himself.

"I'm Matsuri and this is my daughter Satsuki." Mom said smiling. "Thank you for doing this. We're very grateful, right Satsuki?" I nodded, smiling. Iruka-sensei blushed and chuckled.

"I'm only doing what Hokage-sama asked me to do." He said scratching the back of his head. "Oh, Satsuki?"

"Yes, Sensei?" I answered looking at him.

"If the background check results turn out good, you'll be in the academy here." He said thoughtfully. "I think you'll be in my classroom."

"I look forward to it, Iruka Sensei." I said eagerly. I want to get back to training. It was a lot harder with the kids back in the village purposely looking for me just so they could throw rocks at me and call me names.

"I'm happy to take in another eager student." He said chuckling. "I'll go ahead and show you the school while we're at it."

"Do you mind taking us around the village?" Mom asked him.

"Not at all." Iruka Sensei said smiling. "It would make sense to do just that if we're going to make a pit stop at the academy." So Iruka Sensei showed us around the village and I met a few of the kids that are in his class. They all seemed nice, but there was one kid who caught my interest.

"Hey, Iruka Sensei, who's that?" I asked him pointing at a kid in a bright orange and blue jacket. He had blond hair and it looked like he had whiskers on his face. Plus, he had really pretty blue eyes. He was walking in the direction we were walking but he was ahead of us by a meter or so. He looked sad too. I wonder if he's lonely.

"Oh, that's Naruto. He's a bit of a troublemaker, but he's a good kid." Iruka Sensei said smiling.

"Why do the villagers keep looking at him like he did something seriously bad?" I asked frowning.

"A-Ah, well, that's more difficult to explain." Iruka Sensei said laughing nervously.

"It can't be that bad, can it?" Mom asked frowning.

"I guess since he already knows, it'll be fine if I tell you." Iruka Sensei said thoughtfully. "You see, 12 years ago this village was attacked by the Nine-Tailed Beast. The Fourth Hokage at the time sealed it away into Naruto on the day Naruto was born to save the village."

"And ever since then the adults who were affected by the Nine-Tailed Beast just treated Naruto like he was the one who did it?" I asked frowning.

"U-Um, yes." Iruka Sensei said sighing. "I'm ashamed to say that I was one of them. But I've learned to open up to him and have gotten some good results. I hope to make it up to him for the way I've treated him."

"What about his parents?" Mom asked looking worried.

"They died during that incident as well and he's been living by himself ever since then." Iruka Sensei said looking sad.

"I've made up my mind." I said smiling.

"Oh? What have you made up your mind about?" Mom asked me looking amused.

"I'm going to be Naruto's friend whether he wants it or not." I said feeling determined.

"I'm sure Naruto would like that very much." Iruka Sensei said smiling. "Thank you." I nodded. "This is the Inn." I looked up at the building and sighed.

"What's wrong?" Mom asked me.

"I just don't want to have come all the way here only to be told we have to go back." I said frowning.

"Hokage-sama is very kind hearted and wouldn't kick you out if your background checks come clean." Iruka Sensei said smiling. "Once the results come back and if they're good, then he'll find you a home to stay in."

"Thank you, Iruka Sensei." Mom said smiling. We followed him into the Inn and after speaking to the Inn keeper, we were on our way to our room. Apparently Hokage-sama is going to cover our pay here so we don't have to worry about it. He's a kind Hokage. I thought smiling. Later on, Mom and I were getting ready to go down the stairs to get some dinner. I can't get Naruto off my mind. He looked so lonely from where I was standing. I want to go talk to him now. I wish Iruka Sensei were here. I bet he could tell me where I could find Naruto.

"Good evening, Matsuri-san, Satsuki." Iruka Sensei greeted us when we made it to the bottom of the stairs. I smiled. Just the person who I wanted to talk to.

"Are you joining us for dinner, Iruka Sensei?" Mom asked him.

"Yes, if you don't mind. I have a few questions." Iruka Sensei said laughing nervously.

"I don't mind, do you Satsuki?" Mom asked looking at me.

"No. Actually, Iruka Sensei, where can I find Naruto?" I asked him. He looked shocked.

"U-um, if he's not at Ichiraku's, then he'll be at home." He answered me. "Do you remember how to get to Ichiraku's?"

"Yes, but I don't know where he lives." I said nodding. Iruka Sensei gave me directions to Naruto's house from Ichiraku's and I set off to find Naruto. As it turned out, I found him at Ichiraku's. Oh yeah, I forgot this was a ramen place. I took a seat next to Naruto.

"Hello! Welcome!" The old man who ran the place greeted, smiling at me. I smiled.

"Hello." I dug into my money pouch and pulled out enough for one bowl of ramen. "Can I have what he's having?"

"Of course! Coming right up!" The old man said energetically. Naruto looked at me.

"Hi," He greeted me, smiling. "I'm Naruto!"

"I'm Satsuki. It's nice to meet you Naruto." I said smiling back at him.

"You're not from around here, are you?" He said before finishing his ramen.

"I guess it isn't hard to figure that out." I said chuckling. "My mom and I plan on moving here, but we're waiting to hear back from Hokage-sama."

"Oh, I remember seeing you with Iruka Sensei earlier." He said thoughtfully. "What happened to your dad?"

"Mm..." I said looking down sadly.

"Ah, gomen! I didn't mean to upset you!" Naruto said wide-eyed. I smiled.

"You didn't. It's just really hard to talk about." I said shrugging. "I'll tell you eventually, but only if you do one thing for me."

"What is it?" Naruto asked curiously.

"I'll tell you but you have to be my friend first." I said grinning. He looked shocked for a second time, but this time I saw some sadness pass through his eyes before he grinned.

"You have yourself a deal!" He said looking very happy.

"Thank you." I said smiling.

"Here you go!" The old man said sitting my bowl of ramen in front of me. I was starving since I hadn't eaten anything but berries since we left the village.

"Ittadakimasu!" I said before digging in. By the time I was finished, the old man, the lady who served me water, and Naruto were looking at me shocked. "What?"

"You eat as fast as Naruto." The old man said chuckling.

"Oh, this is the first real thing I've eaten since my mom and I left our village." I admitted sheepishly.

"You must have come from a faraway place." The lady said smiling.

"Yeah, we came from the Water Valley village just south of the Hidden Waterfall village." I said shrugging.

"Where did you get that headband? Are you a Genin?" Naruto asked wide-eyed.

"No." I said shaking my head. "This headband belonged to my dad."

"Oh, I'm sorry." Naruto said sympathetically.

"It's okay. You didn't know." I said smiling. "Iruka Sensei said if the results of my mom and I's background check are good, then I'll get to start at the academy here. And he said I might be in his class."

"I hope so!" Naruto said eagerly.

"Me too! I can't wait to get back into training." I said excitedly. The old man chuckled.

"You don't have to pay, Satsuki." He said smiling and pushing my money back at me.

"Are you sure?" I asked shocked.

"Yes, I can tell you're a good kid. Besides, this brat could use a good friend." The old man said pointing his thumb at Naruto.

"O-Oi, what's that supposed to mean?" Naruto asked wide-eyed. The old man only laughed. I smiled. I like Naruto. He has a warm aura around him. It's warm but it's also sad. I'm going to make it my goal to erase that sadness.


	3. Chapter 2

I went back to the Inn after telling Naruto good night. I hope I get to see him again soon. It's been a while since I've had someone to hang out with. It was fun talking to him and the old man. When I got back to the Inn, Mom and Iruka Sensei were still eating dinner. It looks like they've been talking. I joined them at the table. From their expressions, it looks like Mom told Iruka Sensei what happened that night. "So did you find Naruto?" Iruka Sensei asked me as I sat down.

"Yeah." I said smiling. "He's a warm person."

"Eh? You really think so?" Iruka Sensei asked wide-eyed.

"Yes, but no one can see it yet." I said thoughtfully. Mom chuckled.

"Did you eat?" Mom asked me.

"Yeah, the old man at Ichiraku's let me have a bowl of ramen on the house." I said smiling. "I like the people here despite how most of them treat Naruto. They can be very kind."

"I'm glad you feel that way." Iruka Sensei said smiling. "Oh! That's right, I forgot!"

"What is it, Iruka Sensei?" Mom asked him curiously.

"Heh, Hokage-sama wanted me to be the one to tell you that the results of your background checks were positive." He said smiling. "Congratulations, you're both residents of the Hidden Leaf."

"Really?" I asked excitedly.

"Yes." He said chuckling. I couldn't restrain myself and ended up hugging him.

"Thank you, Iruka Sensei!" I said trying to stop the tears from coming and failing.

"You're welcome, Satsuki. But you don't have to thank me." He said chuckling as I let him go. Mom chuckled, wiping away a few of her own tears. "Hokage-sama said to get some rest and then he'll see about getting you two a home tomorrow."

"What time should we be there to see him?" Mom asked looking happier than she has been since that night.

"He said to come at 10 tomorrow morning." Iruka Sensei answered. "Also Satsuki, you're starting at the academy the day after tomorrow. Class starts at 8 and I'll meet you at the entrance so you won't get lost trying to find my classroom."

"Thank you again Iruka Sensei." I said and finally Mom and I went back to our room and went to bed. It had been a long week and I was exhausted. Hopefully I'll actually get a good night's sleep. The next day it took me a minute, but I finally remembered everything that happened yesterday and I couldn't help but feel a little giddy after thinking about it. "Good morning, Mom." I greeted her when I noticed that she was already up.

"Good morning, Satsuki." She said smiling. "Are you ready to move into our new home?"

"Yes!" I said excitedly. "Oh, can I go tell Naruto?"

"Of course," She said chuckling. "Just make sure you're home before 10 o'clock."

"Okay!" I said grinning. I went down to the lobby area of the Inn, grabbed something to eat, and then left to go look for Naruto. I feel like I've walked the whole village. I thought exhaustedly sometime later. I can't find Naruto! I need to tell him the good news!

"Oi, what was that for, dattebayo!?" I gasped. That sounds like Naruto! I followed his voice and found him on the ground and glaring at a group of boys. They were smirking and laughing at him.

"You'll never amount to anything!" One of them said, causing the others to laugh. I frowned. How mean... Should I rush to his rescue? If I do, will he be mad at me? I shook my head. Now isn't the time to be hesitating, Satsuki! I scolded myself. I ran to Naruto.

"Hey, leave my friend alone!" I yelled at the mean kids. Naruto looked up shocked.

"Satsuki!" He said sounding confused.

"What are you going to do about it?" The boy from earlier sneered at me. I rolled my eyes.

"I'll fight you if I have to." I said glaring at him.

"I'd like to see you try." He said scoffing at me. I punched him in the face and he fell back on the ground.

"You saw me try, so now what are you going to do?" I asked him grinning. He glared at me.

"Let's get away from these freaks." The kid said to the others and the group ran away.

"Cowards." I said rolling my eyes. "Are you okay, Naruto?"

"Yeah, thank you Satsuki." Naruto said standing up and smiling. "But you didn't have to punch him."

"The hell I didn't. No body and I mean no body messes with my friends and gets away with it." I said determined.

"What were you doing before you came to help me?" Naruto asked curiously as we started walking.

"Oh, I wanted to tell you something and I felt like I searched the entire village looking for you." I said excitedly.

"What did you want to tell me?" Naruto asked.

"The results of our background checks came back good!" I said jumping up and down. "I'm an official Leaf Village residence!"

"Really!?" Naruto asked excitedly.

"Yeah!" I said as Naruto and I jumped together. He's easily become my best friend.

"We should celebrate with ramen!" Naruto said after we stopped jumping.

"Can we do it for dinner tonight? I have to get back to the Inn. Mom and I are supposed to talk to Hokage-sama about finding a house to live in." I said smiling.

"Of course! I can help move you guys in too!" Naruto said excitedly.

"Thank you Naruto!" I said smiling. "Then let's go. We need to get back before 10."

"Okay!" Naruto said enthusiastically. Naruto and I talked a lot on the way back to the Inn. I learned that he doesn't have many friends or any at all actually. He admitted that he felt lonely the most at night after going home. So I told him that once Mom and I got settled in, then I'd invite him over for dinner or to stay the night whenever he felt lonely. "Really? You'd do that?" He seemed so shocked. "Didn't Iruka-sensei tell you about what happened 12 years ago?"

"He did, but I don't care about that. You did nothing to this village. If it weren't for you being born that day, I bet this village wouldn't be here right now. They should be grateful." I said crossing my arms. "Huh? Naruto, are you okay?" Naruto had tears coming down his face.

"Y-Yeah, thanks for that Satsuki." He said wiping the tears away.

"You're a pretty emotional guy, aren't you?" I said giggling. He blushed. "I like that."

"W-What are you saying, dattebayo?" He asked freaking out. I laughed.

"Come on, we're going to be late!" I said grabbing his hand before I started running. I'm going to erase that loneliness in Naruto's heart. "Mom, I'm back!" I yelled as soon as Naruto and I were in the room.

"Oh and I see you've brought Naruto-kun." Mom said chuckling as she came out of the bathroom.

"It's nice to meet you." Naruto said smiling.

"Are you coming with us, Naruto-kun?" Mom asked packing up the last of our belongings.

"If that's okay." Naruto said smiling shyly. It was weird. I'd never imagine Naruto as a shy person.

"I don't mind, do you Satsuki?" Mom asked chuckling.

"Nope!" I said grinning.

"Then it's settled! Let's go talk to Hokage-sama!" Mom said grabbing her purse. Naruto and I followed Mom all the way to the Hokage tower. Iruka-sensei met us outside.

"Naruto? What are you doing here?" Iruka-sensei asked him.

"Naruto is going to help us move our stuff into our new house." I said smiling.

"Is that so? That's very kind of you Naruto." Iruka Sensei said with a smile. Naruto just nodded. We followed Iruka Sensei all the way to Hokage-sama's office. I wonder what our new house is going to be like. It doesn't have to be big, but I hope it isn't too small. I wonder if Mom is going to work in the flower shop here or the fabric place we saw. Mom is the best when it comes to sewing! I lost track of all the times she's had to patch up my clothes. Once inside, Hokage-sama explained that he found a few houses for us to stay in and that he'll cover the expenses of whatever house we choose. Iruka Sensei ended up being the one to take us to see the houses. I guess being the Hokage means you're always busy. The first house was kind of big but it had a small bathroom and small kitchen. There were two rooms which were plenty for Mom and I, but I want to have a guest room for Naruto when he stays over. Mom and I spend a lot of the time in the kitchen and I'm sure once Mom makes some friends here, she'll want to have a dinner party or something. Mom must have been thinking the same thing because she said she wanted to look at the next house. This one had three bedrooms, but they were small. Honestly it didn't bother Mom or I about how big they were. The bathroom was larger than the one at the last house and the kitchen was huge!

"This is perfect!" Mom said smiling. "What do you think Satsuki?"

"I love it!" I said excitedly. Mom chuckled.

"Then we'll take this house." Mom said smiling at Iruka Sensei.

"Okay, I'll report back to Hokage-sama and then I'll bring the paperwork over." Iruka Sensei said giving Mom the keys.

"Thank you for everything, Iruka Sensei." Mom said with a few tears in her eyes.

"It's really no problem." Iruka Sensei said chuckling. "Also, don't forget about school tomorrow, Satsuki."

"I won't forget, Iruka Sensei!" I said before he left.

"Eh? I forgot you were starting tomorrow!" Naruto said wide-eyed. I giggled.

"Why don't we all have some lunch and then we'll start moving everything in?" Mom suggested.

"Okay!" Naruto and I said grinning. We meet some kids that are going to be in my class tomorrow at the barbeque place. I think their names were Shikamaru and Chouji. Naruto didn't talk to them much at all, but I guess that just means they weren't exactly friends. But I don't think Shikamaru and Chouji are bad. They don't glare at Naruto like he did something wrong for no reason. If anything, I feel like they're curious about him and just didn't have the means to actually talk to him. I feel like we're going to be great friends. We talked a bit more before they had to go. After that, Naruto cheered up a bit and started talking more. I think Mom really likes Naruto too. I'm glad. I can't wait until we get things moved into our new house!

 **A/N: So here's chapter 2! I hope you guys are enjoying it. Um... so what do you think about Satsuki? Is she too mature for her age? Please let me know if you have any ideas on how to fix that if she is. I appreciate any feedback you can give me. If this sounds boring, I do apologize. I haven't wrote very many Naruto Fanfics. Um... yeah, I'll let you get back to your lives and thanks for stopping by! :D You're all beautiful and wonderful and I hope you have a great day/night!**

 **Also to the person who told me that this chapter was messed up, thank you! I had to delete the story, re-post it, and a bunch of other things to get it to work. But I fixed it and that's all that's important lol**


	4. Chapter 3

It took us three hours to get everything where we wanted it. Naruto was a great help and I feel like it would've taken us longer to get moved in without him. "Naruto-kun, thank you so much for your help." Mom said smiling at him.

"It was no problem." Naruto said smiling.

"Would you like to stay over for dinner?" Mom asked him.

"Actually, I was going to take Satsuki to Ichiraku's to celebrate." Naruto said shrugging.

"That's okay. You can stay over for dinner tomorrow then." Mom said chuckling. Naruto looked really happy to hear her say that.

"Thank you!" Naruto said sounding really happy.

"You're welcome!" Mom said smiling. It was about dinner time, so Naruto and I went to Ichiraku's.

"You're starting at the academy tomorrow right?" Naruto asked me.

"Yeah, I'm excited! I haven't really had the chance to do much training lately." I said frowning.

"Do you want to do some training after dinner?" Naruto asked grinning.

"Yes!" I said grinning. This is going to be so much fun! I'm glad that Naruto and I became friends. None of the kids back in the Water Valley village wanted to train with me when Dad was away on missions; especially after that night. Naruto and I finally made it to Ichiraku's and were greeted by the old man.

"Ah, I see you're back." He said smiling at me. "So? How were the results?"

"Mom and I are officially citizens of the Leaf!" I said excitedly.

"Congratulations! Today's ramen is on me!" The old man said enthusiastically.

"Yay!" Naruto and I cheered. I ended up getting the same ramen as him again because it was so good last time. I enjoyed eating ramen with Naruto and talking to the old man and Ayame-san. They also answered a lot of my questions about the village. I was the most curious about the Hokage now and the past Hokage. After learning a bit more about the village, I feel less like an outsider than before. Naruto and I headed over to the training grounds. It was nice getting back into training. Naruto wanted to know what kind of training I did before and basically I started to work on the Water Clone jutsu dad had taught me.

"You use Water Style jutsu?" Naruto asked shocked.

"Yeah, my dad taught me a lot." I said smiling. "I'm still not very good at this yet."

"That's so awesome!" Naruto said excitedly.

"By the way, when is the graduation from the academy?" I asked curiously.

"It's in a few months. Iruka Sensei said that the test is going to be the clone jutsu." Naruto said sighing.

"What's wrong?" I asked him.

"I'm not very good at it, no matter how hard I try." He said dejectedly. I smiled.

"I'm not very good at it either. Do you want to work on it together?" I asked him.

"Really?" He asked wide-eyed.

"Yeah! It's more fun when you have someone to train with!" I said grinning.

"Okay!" He said motivated now. We worked on that for hours. I finally got the hang of it, but Naruto was still struggling.

"I know you can do it, Naruto!" I said encouragingly. He was breathing pretty hard from all the times he's tried.

"I think we should call it a night." He said lying on the ground. "Plus you don't want to be late to the academy tomorrow."

"Oh yeah." I said smiling. "I almost forgot about that." He grinned. I bid Naruto good night and told him I'd see him tomorrow. I don't think I'll be able to sleep with how excited and anxious I am. I really enjoyed training with him. Just seeing him work really hard like that motivated me to work harder too.

The next morning, I was really nervous. "Satsuki, I made you a new outfit for school." Mom said smiling.

"You did?" I asked excitedly. She nodded.

"Yes, just let me go get it." She said going into her room. She came back with a short kimono which is purple with a pink floral design on it. "What do you think?"

"I love it so much! Thank you Mom!" I said going over to her and hugging her.

"You're welcome, dear." She said chuckling. "Now go put it on."

"Yes ma'am!" I said taking the kimono and running to my room. I put the kimono on over a black fishnet shirt and it fit me perfectly! I put on some black shorts underneath and equipped my ninja tool pouch on my left leg. I put my black hair up in a pony tail and pinned my bangs back with a flower hair pin that Mom got me for my birthday last year. I tucked my dad's headband in my obi and made it where you could still see the Water Valley village mark. I made sure my necklace that dad gave me was on, but I hid it out of view. I didn't want someone else to mess with it. I smiled and went back into the kitchen. "How do I look?"

"You look beautiful." Mom said smiling. "Now eat your breakfast. I'm sure you have a long day ahead of you."

"Okay!" I finished my breakfast and went outside to see Naruto waiting for me. "Good morning, Naruto!"

"Good morning, Satsuki!" He greeted me with a grin. "Did your mom make you a new outfit?"

"Yeah! Isn't it pretty!?" I asked him excitedly. He nodded

"Do you want to walk to the academy together?" He asked me.

"Yeah! Let's go!" I said before we started walking to the academy. Iruka Sensei met us at the entrance of the academy. "Good morning, Iruka Sensei."

"Good morning, Satsuki, Naruto. I'm glad you made it." Iruka Sensei said smiling. "Oh? Is that your father's headband?"

"Yeah." I said smiling. "It's okay that I wear it, right?"

"Yes, it's fine." Iruka Sensei said smiling. "Come on, I'll show you to the class."

"Thank you." I said smiling. Naruto followed us. I guess that makes sense since we're all going to the same place.

"Everyone may seem a bit wary of you Satsuki, but don't let that bother you. They don't know you very well yet. So I'm sure once they get more comfortable with you, it'll be okay." Iruka Sensei said looking at me.

"Thanks for the warning, Iruka Sensei." I said feeling grateful. I'm glad because if I went in there without knowing that, it would've upset me.

"You're welcome." He said before stopping in front of an open door. "This is my classroom." I followed him inside along with Naruto and Naruto immediately went to his seat. The other kids in here went quiet. "Class, I would like you to welcome Kinoshita Satsuki-san. She transferred here from the Water Valley village. Be kind to her and make her feel at home."

"It's a pleasure to meet you all. Please take good care of me." I said bowing to the class.

"Okay, have a seat Satsuki. You can sit wherever you like." Iruka Sensei said smiling at me. I nodded and decided to sit next to Naruto. He's the only one I really know. He was sitting next to Shikamaru and Chouji.

"Hey, you're that girl who punched me the other day!" One of the boys in the class yelled standing up.

"Huh? Did I do something like that?" I asked pretending to be confused. I recognize him from the other day as well. Naruto struggled to keep his face straight.

"You did!" The boy said glaring at me.

"Enough! Now sit down!" Iruka Sensei intervened.

"Yes, Sensei." The boy said crossing his arms and sitting down. For the rest of class he kept glaring at me. At lunch time, Naruto and I ate together in the classroom.

"You did punch that kid." Shikamaru said walking up to us with Chouji.

"I was defending my friend, so I don't see any problem with that." I said shrugging.

"I'm sure you wouldn't have gotten in a lot of trouble if you just told Iruka Sensei." Chouji said shyly. I shrugged.

"Sorry, I just have a lot of issues with trusting adults." I said sighing. If they knew what had happened, they would understand.

"But you can trust Iruka Sensei! He's really nice!" Chouji said wide-eyed. I smiled.

"He is, but I still have trouble with trusting adults." I said a bit sadly. After what everyone in the Water Valley village said about Dad. How can I trust adults?

"What's that headband on your obi?" Shikamaru asked me curiously. Naruto scowled at him.

"It's none of your business." Naruto said defensively.

"Thank you Naruto, but it's okay." I said to him."This headband belonged to my dad before he passed away."

"Oh, I'm sorry." Shikamaru said shocked.

"Don't worry about it. You didn't know." I said smiling. "And regarding that kid, I don't tolerate those who hurt my friends." Later on, a girl named Ino walked up to me during shuriken target practice.

"I really like your kimono. It looks so pretty." She told me smiling. I smiled.

"Thank you. My mom made it for me." I told her.

"Really? She did a really good job!" She said shocked.

"Back in the Water Valley village, she used to work in a fabric shop and made a lot of clothes or patched up holes. When she wasn't doing that, she worked in the florist shop a little bit." I said as a boy named Sasuke stepped up to take his turn.

"My family owns a florist shop here in the village!" Ino said excitedly.

"Really?" I asked excitedly. I wonder if mom might work there. "Can I come and look at your flowers sometime?"

"Sure!" She said grinning. Then she turned her attention towards Sasuke and pretty much flipped out when he hit the middle of the targets with his shuriken. I mentally rolled my eyes. I didn't want to offend my new friend. I can tell that she and some of the other girls in this class really like Sasuke. I don't get why. Whenever I see him, I just get the chills. I feel an aura of hate surround him and I don't like it. I don't know what happened to him, but I don't like being around him, that's for sure. Naruto on the other hand is surrounded in a warm aura. He may be sad and lonely a lot of the time when he isn't around anyone, but his aura still feels really warm. He isn't consumed with hate. I can tell he just wants to be acknowledged by the village as Naruto Uzumaki. I'm determined to help him reach his dream.


	5. Chapter 4

A few months later...  
Tomorrow is the day I get to graduate from the academy! I'm so excited! Naruto and I have become the best of friends and it's almost as if he's my brother. Ever since the day I met him and we got our new house, he's been coming over for dinner. I expect once we become genin he won't be able to come over for dinner as much though. I feel like he's become happier ever since too and I'm glad. I've become good friends with Ino, Shikamaru, and Chouji as well. Sasuke still freaks me out and Sakura hates me for some reason. I haven't said or done anything to her but whatever. The others in the class seem to have relaxed a lot around me. Before when I first moved here, they'd whisper and talk to each other behind my back. So I'm assuming they were talking about me. As time went on though, they started to open up to me and me to them. It's been great and the hole I had in my heart that Kaori left was filled. I ended up telling Naruto about what happened like I promised I would. He got angry on my behalf and I told him the village wasn't worth it. I'm sure even now they're acting like my dad didn't exist or that he wasn't good enough for the village. But that's all behind me now. I thought as I got ready to meet up with Naruto. We've been training together for the last two weeks. Naruto is very close to perfecting his clone jutsu. I just perfected the Water Clone jutsu yesterday. Naruto told me it looked awesome.  
Ino, Shikamaru, and Chouji have joined us a few times these last few weeks. Ino has invited me to go eat with them and I've gotten to know them pretty well. "Satsuki, good morning." Mom said smiling as she walked into my room. "Naruto is waiting for you in the kitchen. He's going to join us for breakfast."  
"Good morning, Mom. I'll be down in a minute." I said smiling. She nodded and left my room. I took in a deep breath and let it out. I put the necklace on and headed to the kitchen. "Good morning, Naruto! Are you ready for graduation?"  
"Good morning, Satsuki! I'm a little nervous actually." He said smiling.  
"Really? That's weird since you're always so confident." I said giggling.  
Thank you for breakfast!" Naruto said as we finished up our food.  
"You're very welcome." Mom said smiling. Naruto and I began making our way to the academy.  
"I'm excited and a little anxious." I said smiling. "Did you continue to train after I went home?"  
"Yeah..." Naruto said looking glum.  
"What's wrong?" I asked him frowning.  
"I still can't do it."He said sadly.  
"I'm sure Iruka-sensei will understand." I said sympathetically.  
"I guess." He mumbled. I wish there was a way that I could cheer him up. When we got to the academy, everyone was talking excitedly about graduation. Naruto and I took our seats in the classroom and waited to be called like we were instructed by Iruka Sensei. I hope Naruto can make it. I thought worriedly. Naruto was sitting next to me in a slump. He's always smiling, so when I see him like this it kind of throws me off. Maybe I should question him more when I can tell something is bothering him and doesn't say it. Everyone so far has made it. I thought as I watched every person so far come out looking excited and holding a leaf headband. I hope Naruto makes it.  
"Kinoshita, Satsuki! It's your turn!" An instructor called.  
"Hai!" I said standing up.  
"Good luck, Satsuki." Naruto said trying to smile. I smiled.  
"Thank you, Naruto." He nodded and I went into the room we were supposed to go into. Inside there was a long table and behind it sat Iruka Sensei and a lot of other instructors that I wasn't familiar with.  
"Okay, Satsuki. Show us what you got." Iruka Sensei said smiling. I nodded. I decided to show off a bit and use my Water Clone Jutsu.  
"Water Clone Jutsu!" I said as I made the tiger sign. Iruka Sensei gasped and a water clone version of myself appeared next to me. I grinned. "How's that, Iruka Sensei?" We said grinning at him. He sighed.  
"You pass, but you don't have to show off Satsuki." He admonished me. "I think you've been around Naruto too much."  
"No way, Iruka Sensei!" I said giggling. I released the jutsu. "Oh..." I suddenly thought of Naruto and frowned.  
"What's wrong?" Iruka Sensei asked curiously.  
"Oh, it's nothing." I said smiling. I received the headband and left the room. It would be rude of me to ask Iruka Sensei to go easy on Naruto. Naruto would've been angry with me if I did that.  
"Oh, you made it Satsuki." Shikamaru said smiling.  
"Congratulations!" Ino said excitedly.  
"Thanks." I said smiling at them. I took my seat next to Naruto.  
"Congrats, Satsuki." Naruto said grinning. He was being genuine too.  
"Thank you, Naruto." I said hoping Naruto could make it. A few more people went and then it was Naruto's turn. "Good luck, Naruto! I believe in you!" I told him encouragingly. He nodded, smiling and went into the room. Everyone else left saying that Naruto wasn't going to make it and it made me angry that they would think that. They should have faith in Naruto! I waited with anticipation and finally the doors opened. "Naruto?" He looked defeated and very upset.  
"I didn't... I didn't make it." He said sounding crushed.  
"Oh, Naruto. You worked so hard..." I said wanting to cry for him. He sighed.  
"Thank you for helping me, Satsuki." He said looking sad.  
"Naruto, where are you going?" I asked as he turned towards the door.  
"I just want to be alone for a little while." He said not looking at me.  
"Naruto... don't forget that I'll always be here when you need me." I told him as he walked out of the classroom. He just waved at me. I sniffled as a few tears escaped. I wiped them and looked at my headband feeling bitter about it. I wish there was something I could do. The tears just wouldn't stop.  
"Satsuki?" I heard someone say about five minutes or so later. "What are you doing in here?" I sniffled and looked up to see Shikamaru. "Oi, what's wrong?" He asked wide-eyed. I wiped my eyes again.  
"Naruto didn't make it." I said sadly.  
"I saw that." Shikamaru said cautiously walking towards me. "What about it?"  
"What about it?" I whispered. He froze. "Naruto worked so hard the last few months to master the clone jutsu. He worked so hard! I watched him and helped the best I could and he still didn't make it... It's not fair!" Before I knew it, I was crying again. "It's not fair..."  
"Oi, don't cry!" Shikamaru sounded hopeless as he tried to calm me down. I sniffled again.  
"I'm sorry, Shikamaru..." I said standing up from my seat. I rubbed my eyes again. "I need to get home, or my mom will get worried. Thanks for trying to cheer me up." I smiled at him before leaving out the window. I went around the village looking for Naruto, but I couldn't find him. Naruto... where did you go? I thought as I left the park. He needs me, but I can't find him anywhere. The sun is starting to set, I need to go home. But I don't want to leave it like this. I finally went home and Mom looked really relieved to see me.  
"Where have you been, Satsuki? I was so worried something had happened to you." Mom said frowning.  
"I'm sorry, Mom. I was looking for Naruto." I said sniffling.  
"What happened? Did you not graduate?" She asked me worriedly.  
"No, I did. But Naruto didn't make it." I said sadly. "We worked so hard, Mom. It's not fair that they based our skills to become Genin on one jutsu."  
"I know, honey. That's how they run things." Mom said sympathetically. "Did you find Naruto?"  
"No." I said shaking my head. "I'm worried."  
"He'll be okay." She said hugging me. It doesn't feel like it. I thought worriedly. "Come on, dinner's ready. After that, you can take a warm bath and all your worries will disappear for the night." I let her usher me to the table. I hope Naruto is okay. The next day, I didn't feel any better about yesterday. I got ready for the day. I was supposed to go back to the academy so that they could put us into our squads. I felt really bitter about it. I decided that since I have my father's headband, now sewn, on my obi that I would tie my own headband around my right arm. I went into the kitchen and Mom had breakfast ready, but I didn't feel hungry. "Breakfast?"  
"I'm not hungry, Mom." I said frowning.  
"Okay. At least let me pack you a lunch." She said going to the fridge.  
"Mom, it's okay." I told her. She stopped and sighed.  
"Okay. Have a good day, okay?" She said smiling.  
"I'll try." I said before heading towards the door. I put my shoes on and stepped outside. What I was not expecting to see was Naruto standing there. He was grinning and he had... he had a leaf headband tied around his forehead! "Naruto!? You..."  
"Iruka Sensei passed me!" He said excitedly.  
"But I thought you didn't master the Clone Jutsu yet." I said confused.  
"I learned something better!" He said grinning. "But I'll show you it later. What's for breakfast?" I couldn't help but gawk at him before sighing.  
"Come in." I said shaking my head. "I was worried about you, you know!" I scowled at him. "I went looking for you all evening yesterday and I couldn't find you!"  
"R-Really?" He asked surprised.  
"Yes," I said still scowling at him.  
"O-Oh, I'm sorry, Satsuki." He said apologetically. "I'm not used to having someone care about me like that yet." I sighed.  
"It's okay Naruto." I said smiling. It's hard to stay mad at him when he says that. He smiled.  
"So, second thoughts on breakfast then?" Mom asked smiling at me.  
"Yeah..." I said embarrassedly. She just laughed. I pouted. During breakfast, Naruto explained to me what happened and told that I wasn't allowed to tell anyone about it. "So how come you told me if no one else is supposed to know?" I asked as we walked to the academy.  
"You're my sister aren't you?" He said blushing. I blinked in surprise. "I-I mean, I can't just NOT tell you something like that. That feels w-wrong to me." He wasn't looking at me at this point. I smiled.  
"Yeah, I'm your sister, Naruto." I said happily. "And you're my brother."  
"R-Really?" He asked excitedly.  
"Yep!" I said grinning.

 **A/N: Not gonna lie, it was a bit awkward for me to write that bit at the end, but at the same time it made feel warm and fuzzy on the inside. I just love the idea of Naruto and Satsuki being so close as siblings because I feel like they're there for each other when they need it. This is part of the reason why I'm not sure about making this story a romance or not. Because my original idea was to get Satsuki and Shikamaru together and that was before I finished Shippuden and didn't think about Temari and Shikamaru being together. So until I figure out what I'm going to do, I'm going to continue to write the way it is. I'm sure Satsuki will find someone once she's a bit older like the rest of the characters in this Anime/Manga!**


	6. Chapter 5

When Naruto and I finally made it to the classroom, I noticed a lot of people seemed to be upset about Naruto being there. "What are you doing here, Naruto?" The kid I punched some months ago asked glaring at him.

"He's a Genin now, why else would he be here?" I said glaring right back at him. The kid didn't say a peep after that.

"How?" Shikamaru asked curiously.

"Iruka Sensei gave me a second chance." Naruto said grinning. Smooth... I thought in relief. I wasn't sure how we were supposed to answer that. Naruto was told he wasn't supposed to tell anyone about what happened last night. Well, he told me, but I won't tell anyone. We took our seats and a lot of interesting things happened, one of them being Naruto and Sasuke kissing each other. It was purely by accident, but it was still funny to see. I giggled while the whole classroom freaked out including Sasuke and Naruto themselves.

"What are you laughing at?" Shikamaru asked me. Oh yeah, I forgot I was sitting next to him, Ino, and Chouji. Naruto was sitting next to Sakura and Sasuke.

"I think it's silly how everyone is over reacting to that. It was an accident, right?" I said shrugging.

"Ne, you and Naruto are close right?" Ino asked me.

"Yeah, what of it?" I asked her curiously.

"How can you put up with that?" She asked frowning.

"Put up with what exactly?" I said scowling at her.

"N-Nothing in particular." She said laughing nervously. I sighed.

"Sure he goofs off a lot and he's clumsy, but you don't know him like I do." I said smiling.

"We've known him longer than you have." Chouji said confused.

"That may be so. But have either of you actually tried to get to know him?" I asked them.

"Our parents always told us not to go near him." Shikamaru answered. I rolled my eyes.

"So what? They just see what he wants them to see. They don't know him, know him. Since I've been here, the only adults I've seen treat him decently is my mom, the Hokage, and Iruka Sensei." I said scowling.

"Why are you getting so defensive all of a sudden?" Ino asked shocked.

"Naruto is my first real friend and I'm not going let someone be mean to him because they don't understand him like I do." I said crossing my arms. "I won't let anyone pick on my friends. So either you're my friend or you're my enemy. It's your choice." Naruto didn't seem like he was listening to our conversation. I might have embarrassed him if he had heard the conversation.

"Whoa, calm down." Shikamaru said holding up his hands. "We don't want to be your enemies."

"Yeah, I was just curious. I'm sorry for upsetting you and making fun of Naruto." Ino said apologetically. I took in a deep breath and let it out slowly.

"I'm sorry too. I got carried away." I said smiling.

"What a pain..." Shikamaru grumbled. Chouji smiled and dug into a bag of potato chips. Iruka Sensei finally walked in and greeted the class.

"Good morning everyone! Congratulations on becoming Genins!" He said with a smile. "Now then, let's get down to business. Today I will be reading off your teams. Please hold off any commentary until I'm finished." He said before getting started. I hope I get to be in the same team as Naruto! "Team 7 will be Naruto Uzumaki, Sakura Haruno, and Sasuke Uchiha!" For a split second Naruto was happy. I'm guessing because he was on the same team as Sakura. But that disappeared as soon as he learned he was on the same team as Sasuke as well. Aw, I really thought I'd be on the same team as Naruto. "Team 8 will be Kiba Inuzuka, Hinata Hyuuga, and Shino Aburame! Team 10 will be Ino Yamanaka, Shikamaru Nara, Chouji Akamichi, and Satsuki Kinoshita!" What? I get to team up with Ino, Shikamaru, and Chouji? I thought these were supposed to be three man squads. When Iruka Sensei was finished with the groups, I raised my hand. "Yes, Satsuki?"

"I thought these were supposed to be three man squads." I said frowning.

"You're right." Iruka Sensei said smiling. "The problem was we didn't have enough students for another three man squad so we had to have a group of four."

"Oh..." I feel like I was just thrown on to a random team. It's not that I don't like Ino, Shikamaru, and Chouji. It's just I feel like an extra.

"We're on the same team, Satsuki!" Ino said excitedly. I smiled.

"Let's do our best!" Chouji said encouragingly.

"Yes." I said nodding my head. I can't be upset about this. I'm just glad I finally have a place where I belong. I looked over at Naruto and he was glaring at Sasuke. I chuckled. This was going to be interesting for sure. Iruka Sensei instructed us to meet up with our Jonin team leader. "I wonder what kind of person Asuma Sensei is." I said as we walked to the meeting place. I couldn't help but wonder if Naruto was going to be okay when we left the classroom.

"My dad said he's pretty laid back." Shikamaru said walking with his hands in his pockets.

"According to my dad, he smokes a lot." Ino said shrugging. I sighed.

"I'm sure it'll be fine." Chouji said smiling.

"It's not Asuma Sensei I'm worried about. I'm sure he'll be great sensei." I said smiling.

"You're worried about Naruto?" Shikamaru asked me.

"I can't help it. He always seems to get himself into a lot of trouble." I said shrugging. I can understand a little bit why, but that shouldn't be much of an issue any more.

"That's true." Ino said smiling. "I'm sure he'll be fine."

"I bet you're more worried about Sasuke." Shikamaru said rolling his eyes. She blushed.

"I am not!" She said scowling at Shikamaru. I chuckled.

"I doubt Sakura will get anywhere with him anyways." I said grinning.

"Why do you say that?" Chouji asked curiously.

"I don't know." I said shrugging. "It just seems like he's not really interested in being with anyone."

"No way!" Ino said laughing. "He's just..."

"Aloof? Doesn't bother to interact with anyone unless someone engages a conversation with him? Ignores said people who try to engage a conversation with him?" I listed off. "I mean I could go on."

"Don't." Ino said scowling at me. I sighed.

"I'm sorry if I upset you Ino. I'm just saying that Sakura is basically wasting her energy on him." I said shrugging. "She should really be focusing her energy on training."

"If Sakura heard you say that, she wouldn't take it lying down." Shikamaru said snickering.

"It's fine." Ino said smiling. "I understand what you're saying." Thank goodness. I don't want to mess things up already. We finally made it to the meeting spot and it looked like we were early. We took a seat and waited patiently. It wasn't long before Asuma Sensei showed up.

"Sorry for making you wait." He said apologetically.

"We didn't wait long." Chouji said smiling.

"I'm Asuma Sarutobi. I'll be your team leader from today on." He said smiling at us. "Let's start with introductions."

"I'm Ino Yamanaka." Ino started cheerfully.

"I'm Shikamaru Nara." Shikamaru said before saying this was a pain.

"Chouji Akamichi," Chouji said in between crunches of his chips.

"I'm Satsuki Kinoshita. It's nice to meet you, Asuma Sensei." I said smiling.

"It's good to meet you all." Asuma Sensei said with a smile. "Do any of you have any dreams?"

"Dreams?" Ino questioned.

"Yeah." He said smiling. We shared a look and after a few moments of silence, Ino started off again and told us her dream. Shikamaru and Chouji said they didn't put any thought into before. "What about you Satsuki?"

"Hm. I don't really have a dream. But I..." I said frowning. "I want to return to my old village one day and prove everything they've said about my father wrong."

"Oh? May I ask what happened to your father?" Asuma Sensei asked curiously. The other three looked at me curiously. Besides Naruto, I've never told anyone about what happened.

"My dad was a shinobi in my old village. One day he was supposed to go on a mission with the others but he came back early with an injured leg. The village doctor wasn't able to heal it all the way, so my dad couldn't continue as a shinobi. So he did a lot of carpentry work around the village." I said sadly. "Then a few weeks later, I woke up in the middle of the night to a commotion in the kitchen. When I went to check it out, I found these Sound Ninja and my dad arguing about something. He told them that what they were looking for wasn't there and they dragged him away. After a few days had passed, they brought him back, but he was already gone."

"I'm sorry to hear that, Satsuki." Asuma Sensei said sincerely.

"After that, the village started talking bad about him and calling him useless. I got bullied a lot too. Finally Mom had enough and we moved here." I said shrugging.

"That's awful." Ino said frowning.

"It's okay. It's in the past now." I said smiling. It's definitely easier to talk about now.

"Do you know why those Sound Ninja would attack your dad?" Shikamaru asked curiously.

"No idea. I just know that when he was on his mission, he came across them." I said thoughtfully.

"Anyways," Asuma Sensei said frowning. "Now I'm going to give you the real test."

"The real test?" Ino asked curiously.

"Exactly. Just because you learned the Clone Jutsu, that doesn't make you a Genin." He said grinning. "Tomorrow meet me at training grounds number 1 and I'll give you your real test. If you fail, you'll go back to the academy."

"What? That doesn't seem fair..." Chouji said pouting slightly.

"Out in the real world, it's not a matter of whether or not something is fair." Asuma Sensei said very seriously. "You have to become strong so you can survive, do you understand?"

"Yes, Asuma Sensei." The four of us said frowning. I wonder what the test is going to be. Afterwards I went straight home. Naruto was waiting for me inside. He was talking to Mom and he looked very excited.

"I'm home!" I announced as I took my shoes off.

"Welcome home, Satsuki!" Mom said smiling.

"How'd it go with your team, Naruto?" I asked as I took a seat at the table.

"We just introduced ourselves." Naruto said rolling his eyes. "We're supposed to meet up with Kakashi Sensei really early tomorrow."

"Good luck." I said smiling.

"What about you, Satsuki?" Mom asked me.

"Asuma Sensei is really nice." I said thinking of earlier. "I'm supposed meet him and the others tomorrow pretty early too." Naruto looked at me in shock and then I knew that both Sensei's had said the same thing more or less about becoming Genin.

"What's wrong you two?" Mom asked worriedly.

"It's nothing Mom." I said grinning. "It seems Naruto and I have pretty similar Sensei's."

"I see." She said not really getting it. Naruto stayed over for dinner and then after he left, I got ready for bed because I had to get up early in the morning. The next morning, I got up earlier than I would've liked and got ready for today. I'm excited and a little worried about what this 'real' test is. Naruto didn't come over for breakfast, which is odd because he always comes over for breakfast. It makes me wonder what kind of sensei Naruto has. I met up with the other three on the way to training grounds number 1. There was an obstacle course set up and Asuma Sensei was waiting for us.

"An obstacle course?" I asked uncertainly.

"Good morning, everyone." He said smiling to us. "Yes, I want you three to do this obstacle course. The last one to finish it will go back to the academy." It didn't look very hard to me, but I get the feeling it won't be as easy as it looks.


	7. Chapter 6

Asuma Sensei watched us from a distance and the four of us walked up to the start of the obstacle course. The first part of it consists of using stones to get across a very large pond. "I'm assuming the whole point of this exercise is team work." I said looking at Shikamaru, Ino, and Chouji.

"Right. That shouldn't be hard for Ino, Chouji, and I. Our dad's are really good friends and pretty much drilled teamwork into our skulls." Shikamaru said sighing.

"Are you saying I'm not good at teamwork?" I asked him frowning.

"No, he was just saying that it shouldn't be hard." Ino said smiling. Right...

"So either we all get to the end or we fail." I said deciding to not to go further into what Shikamaru said.

"Pretty much." Chouji said munching on his chips again.

"What's our strategy?" I asked curiously.

"There really isn't one. We just need to make sure that all of us get to the end." Shikamaru said stuffing his hands into his pockets. He was starting to irritate me.

"Fine." I said sighing. "Let's get going then." I turned towards the pond and smiled. It reminded me of the pond Dad used to take me to when he was teaching me jutsu. The other three lined up next to me and we took off across the pond. Chouji stumbled a bit, but with the help of Ino, Shikamaru, and I he didn't fall into the pond. The next obstacle was to climb up a large wall. Large boulders stuck out in random spots to help us get up the wall. We didn't slow down and jumped up the wall. Ino nearly missed her step, but I caught her and pulled her up with me.

"Thanks!" She said looking relieved.

"You're welcome!" I said smiling. I was starting to get exhausted from jumping so much. I wasn't used to it. We made it over the wall and the last obstacle consisted of us dodging kunai. Asuma Sensei set those off and to our annoyance, he looked a little too happy about it. I messed up about half way through and just as the kunai was going to hit me, Shikamaru pushed me out of the way. I caught myself and jumped as another kunai made my way. "Thanks Shikamaru!"

"Be more careful." He said looking away from me. I think I'm starting to get his personality down... at least a little bit. I smiled and the four of us got to the end of the obstacle course. Asuma Sensei was waiting for us and he had a smile on his face.

"I see you all figured out the purpose of this exercise from the beginning." He said sighing. "You four are too smart for your own good."

"So, did we pass?" Chouji asked worriedly.

"Of course you passed!" Asuma Sensei said grinning.

"Yay!" Ino, Chouji, and I cheered.

"I'm off to see Hokage-sama. Meet me here tomorrow at 8am." Asuma Sensei said before taking off.

"We're going to get barbeque to celebrate. Do you want to come with us?" Ino asked me.

"Hm... actually I think I'm going to go see how Naruto is doing." I said thoughtfully. "Maybe another time?"

"Sure!" Chouji said grinning. I smiled and waved as they left. I think Team 7 is at training grounds number 3. So I went looking for them. I found them sitting by some stumps. Well, Naruto was tied to the middle one and Sasuke and Sakura were eating lunch. Hm... I wonder what kind of test their sensei is making them do.

"What are you doing here?" I nearly jumped out of my skin as a guy with silver hair and most of his face covered with a mask showed up next to me.

"Geez, you scared me." I said in relief. "I was just checking to see how Naruto was doing."

"Oh? Are you his girlfriend?" The older ninja asked. I could tell he was a Jonin. So he must be their sensei.

"No." I said giggling. "We're just really good friends."

"You're with Asuma's team, aren't you?" He asked looking at me.

"Yes, I'm Satsuki Kinoshita." I introduced myself.

"I'm Hatake Kakashi." He said in return. "You're not thinking of interrupting my test are you?"

"Of course not, Kakashi Sensei," I said shaking my head. "Like I said, I was just checking up on Naruto. He always finds himself in some kind of trouble, so I was a little worried."

"Good." He said before he disappeared again. I shook my head. Well, Naruto seems to have found himself in trouble, but I'm sure he'll be okay. I thought looking back to Naruto again. His stomach was growling really loudly. I was wondering why he didn't have any breakfast this morning. Just then, I see Sasuke offer up his bento to Naruto. After a few seconds of hesitation, Sakura did the same. I decided to stay and watch. Kakashi Sensei appeared in front of them and rushed at them, effectively scaring the crap out of Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura. I smiled. I guess he'd have to instill some fear into them to get them to actually listen. Those three don't listen very well from what I can tell. None the less, they passed Kakashi Sensei's test. Good for them. Naruto was left tied to the stump as Sasuke, Sakura, and Kakashi Sensei walked away. I giggled as he yelled after them. I decided to come to his rescue.

"Naruto, are you okay?" I asked him as I untied him.

"Satsuki? How long have you been here?" He asked me as soon as he was free.

"Long enough to see Sakura feed you," I said grinning at him. He blushed. "Congratulations on passing!"

"Did you pass?" He asked me worriedly as we left the training grounds.

"Yep!" I said grinning. "I don't understand what you had to do, but we just had to get to the end of an obstacle course."

"You had it a lot easier than we did." Naruto said looking exhausted all of a sudden. I giggled.

"Want to celebrate with ramen?" I asked him.

"Yes!" He said excitedly.

"I need to tell Mom first." I told him as we headed in the direction of my house.

"Okay!" He said happily. It wasn't long before we were off to Ichiraku's. We ended up meeting Iruka Sensei there.

"Iruka Sensei, good evening." I greeted him as Naruto and I sat down.

"How was your first day?" He asked Naruto and I.

"We both passed!" Naruto said proudly.

"Good job you two." Iruka Sensei said smiling.

"Thank you, Iruka Sensei." I said smiling.

"So you two are celebrating with ramen, huh?" Teuchi-san said smiling.

"Of course!" Naruto said grinning. Teuchi-san ended up letting us have ours on the house again. I love coming to Ichiraku's with Naruto. It's like I can come here and I don't have to worry about what's going on outside of Ichiraku's even if it's just for a little bit. I'm going to have to bring Mom here one day. I'm sure she'd love it. Iruka Sensei said his good bye after he finished his ramen. He said something about getting stuff ready for his new students tomorrow.

"Things are going to get busy for us now that we're Genin, huh?" I said after finishing my ramen.

"Yeah." Naruto said smiling. "I wonder what kind of missions we're going to have!"

"They're probably not going to be very exciting." I said frowning. "I mean, we're Genin. They don't expect us to know how to infiltrate an enemy's hideout over night, do they?"

"Aw," Naruto said looking disappointed.

"Don't be disappointed, Naruto." I said smiling. "Once Chuunin exams come around, we'll really get to show our stuff!"

"Chuunin... exams..." Naruto said looking confused.

"I was doing some research on shinobi in general and how things ran in Konoha. And I came across the Chuunin exams. Basically, it's a three part test to become the next rank up, which is Chuunin." I said hoping he understood what I was saying. After getting to know him, I've learned that he's a kind of dumb with stuff like this.

"That doesn't sound fun at all." Naruto said making a weird face.

"But Naruto, if you don't rank up, everyone will make fun of you for being a Genin the rest of your life. I thought you wanted to be Hokage." I said scowling at him. "You can't become the Hokage with that attitude!"

"You're right..." He said sounding depressed.

"Why do you sound so depressed?" I asked sighing. If anything, he should be pumped up.

"Sorry, Satsuki." He said smiling sheepishly. "It's been a really long day."

"Are you okay?" I asked him seriously.

"Yes, I'm okay. I'll see you tomorrow, Satsuki!" Naruto didn't give me the time to respond and he was gone. I sighed.

"Is he really okay?" I mutter frowning. Teuchi-san and Ayame-san laughed.

"Whatever it is that's bothering him, he'll bounce back. He always does!" Teuchi-san said smiling. I smiled back.

"Yeah." I stood up and yawned. "Good night, Teuchi-san, Ayame-san. And thank you!"

"Anytime! Get home safe!" Ayame-san said waving at me as I left. I waved back and headed home. I wonder what's eating at Naruto. He was fine before. I wonder if Sakura said something to hurt him. I hate her. She does nothing but say hateful things to Naruto and he doesn't say or do anything about it! He just lets her be mean to him! Every time I move to punch her face, Naruto stops me. I understand that he has a crush on her, but she's completely ignoring him! It makes me angry that he's letting her treat him this way. But it's not his fault. That's just how Naruto is. He's stubborn too, so he probably won't give up on her until she actually gets married. Ugh, this is going to go on forever.

"Sa-tsu-ki!" I blinked and saw that I had stopped in the middle of the road and Ino was trying to get my attention.

"Ino? I'm sorry." I said apologetically. She sighed.

"Geez. What're you thinking about so much that it's got you stopping in the middle of the road? That's dangerous you know!" She said scowling at me. I giggled.

"Sorry, I'll be more careful from here on out!" I said grinning.

"Seriously though, what's up?" She asked me as we both started walking. "Worrying about Naruto again?"

"Is it that obvious?" I asked frowning.

"You don't have a crush on him, do you?" Ino asked me smirking.

"No." I said shaking my head. "Why does everyone assume I have a crush on Naruto?"

"Maybe it's because you're so defensive about him and constantly worry about him?" She said rolling her eyes.

"If you had a sibling and everyone treated him like he did something really horrible when he didn't, wouldn't you get defensive of them?" I asked her.

"Well, yeah..." Ino said looking uncomfortable now.

"See? I care about Naruto, yes. But in the way that he's like my sibling." I said shrugging. "Naruto feels the same way."

"Really?" She asked me.

"Yeah, he said so himself." I said shaking my head.

"Whatever you say, Satsuki!" Ino said grinning. "I'll see you bright and early tomorrow!" And then she was gone. I sighed. Everyone here so far seems to jump to conclusions way too fast.


	8. Chapter 7

The next morning, Naruto stopped by for some breakfast but as soon as we were done, we had to split up and go different ways. Apparently Kakashi Sensei chose a different meeting place. "Have a good day, Naruto!" I told him as he walked away.

"I will!" He said waving at me. I waved back and then I focused on getting to the meeting spot. When I arrived, Ino and Shikamaru were already there, but Chouji and Asuma Sensei were missing still.

"Good morning!" I greeted the two.

"Good morning, Satsuki!" Ino said grinning at me.

"What?" I asked confused.

"Nothing." She said still grinning. I rolled my eyes.

"Any ideas as to what we're doing today?" I asked curiously since Ino wasn't going to tell me what she was thinking. I think I know what she's thinking about though.

"Not a clue." Shikamaru said sighing. "I tried asking Asuma Sensei yesterday after he finished talking with Hokage-sama, but he wouldn't tell me."

"Do you think we're going to do more training exercises? Or are we going to get our first mission together?" I asked feeling a bit impatient.

"Who knows?" Ino said frowning. "I just hope it's not another training exercise. That killed me yesterday."

"Maybe you should do more exercises." I said thoughtfully.

"Huh!? Are you calling me fat!?" Ino asked glaring at me.

"What? No!" I said wide eyed. "I meant if you didn't have any plans when we're not on missions or training with Asuma Sensei, maybe we could do some exercising together so that when we have to do something like that again, it won't be as bad."

"Oh..." She said smiling sheepishly. "Sure, that sounds like a good plan." I giggled.

"Geez, Ino. You take things the wrong way a lot, don't you?" I teased her.

"I do not," She said pouting and crossing her arms.

"Everyone seems lively this morning." Asuma Sensei said walking up to us with Chouji.

"Good morning, Asuma Sensei." Shikamaru, Ino, and I greeted him.

"Where were you this morning Chouji?" Shikamaru asked him, scowling a bit.

"I'm sorry, Shikamaru! I overslept a bit." Chouji said smiling sheepishly. I guess Shikamaru and Chouji usually walk together a lot. Well, they are childhood friends and I guess they would be close because of their fathers.

"Will you tell us what we're doing today now?" I asked Asuma Sensei impatiently. He chuckled.

"Yes. We're going to meet with Hokage-sama and get our first mission as Team 10." He said smiling.

"Yay!" Ino, Chouji, and I cheered. We all followed Asuma Sensei to the mission hall. I heard some yelling inside and instantly knew it was Naruto. I sighed.

"Naruto..." I said smacking my forehead. "You're not supposed to yell at the Hokage." Asuma Sensei chuckled.

"I get the feeling that Kakashi is going to have to deal with that a lot." Asuma Sensei said smiling.

"Yeah, it seems like it." I said shaking my head. I really need to talk to that boy. Finally, Team 7 stepped out of the mission room. Kakashi looked mortified, Sakura was glaring at Naruto, Naruto was pouting and crossing his arms, and Sasuke looked moderately annoyed. I chuckled. Naruto is definitely a handful.

"I wonder what kind of mission they got..." Ino said giggling.

"I told him not to expect anything too important." I said sighing. "I mean we're probably going to do a lot of odd jobs around the village since we're Genin."

"Aw," Chouji said sadly.

"Trust me, Chouji. You don't want to do anything higher than a D-rank mission right now." Asuma Sensei said chuckling. I guess anything above a D-rank mission would be impossible for Genin who just got out of the academy, huh? We walked into the mission room and waited patiently for Hokage-sama to speak. He straightened up some papers that were sitting in front of him before looking at us.

"Good grief..." He said sighing. Asuma Sensei chuckled.

"It looks like you're gonna have a handful for a while." Asuma Sensei said smiling at Hokage-sama.

"It looks like it." Hokage-sama said grimacing. "Anyways, you're here for your first mission right?"

"Yes sir!" Chouji, Shikamaru, Ino, and I answered. He smiles.

"Alright," He said as he looked at one of the papers he straightened up earlier. "I have one here. Shimura-san, from the fabric shop, has asked for someone to pick up supplies for her. Let's see, ah! Here it is. Here's the list and one of the supplies requires you to pick up a package from the next town over." Asuma Sensei accepted the list from Hokage-sama.

"Thank you, Hokage-sama!" Shikamaru, Chouji, Ino, and I said bowing to him respectfully. He seemed relieved that he wasn't getting any complaints. I don't blame him after what happened with Naruto. I'm definitely going to have a word with him later. The mission seemed easy enough but I guess that makes sense since we're Genin after all.

"Let's head out to the next town over to get the package and then get the rest of it before we head over to Shimura-san's shop." Asuma Sensei said thoughtfully as we exited the Hokage tower. We agreed and began making our way to the next town over. I wonder what Shimura-san's shop is like. I bet if I told Mom about it, she'd check it out. She always liked working at the flower shop and fabric shop back in the Water Valley village. We gathered the remaining items on the list around Konoha and finally made it back to Shimura-san's fabric shop. It was tucked away in a small corner of the village and I wouldn't have noticed it if I wasn't looking for it. The atmosphere was really nice in here too. It didn't look like Shimura-san had any helpers though. It was more or less the same as the one back in Water Valley village, but it had more fabric and different varieties. I smiled and looked around a bit while Asuma Sensei and the other handed all of the items over to Shimura-san.

"That's a very pretty kimono you're wearing." Shimura-san told me as she walked over to me.

"Thank you. My mom made it for me." I said smiling. "She used to work in a fabric shop in our old village."

"I see. Her designs are amazing." Shimura-san said a bit surprised. "Is she working right now?"

"No, she's been looking around. I was thinking of telling her about your shop when I get home." I said smiling.

"Then give her this paper." Shimura-san said going behind the counter. She rummaged through a drawer before giving me a paper. "This will give her information about the shop and answer most of the questions she might have. I'm free tomorrow, so if she wants to come by and talk to me, send her here at any time."

"I will. Thank you!" I told her smiling.

"It's no problem! Oh, you know my name, but I don't know yours." She said chuckling.

"You can call me Satsuki." I said shrugging.

"It's nice to meet you, Satsuki-chan." She said with a smile.

"It's nice to meet you too, Shimura-san." I said grinning. Finally the five of us returned to the Hokage to report back on our mission. After that, we were free to go. The sun was about to go down.

"How about we celebrate our first mission success by going out to eat?" Ino suggested.

"That sounds like a great idea." Asuma Sensei said with a smile.

"Will you be joining us, Satsuki?" Chouji asked me.

"Yeah, but I need to let my mom know first." I told him smiling. "Where are we going? I'll meet you there." They told me where they were eating and I went home quickly. Naruto wasn't there when I got there. So I wonder if he's still on his mission. I told Mom about eating out with Asuma Sensei and the others and then I gave her the paper and quickly explained to her what it was.

"Oh thank you, Satsuki. I'll have a look at it. Have fun with your team!" She said smiling and kissing my cheek.

"Okay, I'll see you when I get home." I told her before heading out to the place that I'm meeting the others at. Apparently we're having barbeque and Asuma Sensei is paying. I hope Naruto's mission went well. I thought as I entered the restaurant. Ino waved at me and I went to the table.

"Is your mom going to work at Shimura-san's shop?" Ino asked me when I sat down. I shrugged.

"She said she'd look it over." I said as the waitress walked over to our table. Everyone ordered their food and it wasn't long before we got to eat. It was yummy that's for sure. We spent an hour or so there just talking and I feel like I've bonded more with Asuma Sensei. I told him that I wanted to start working with weapons too to go with my taijutsu training.

"What kind of weapon would you like to train with?" He asked me curiously.

"Well, Kouta Sensei trained me in taijutsu and for little bit he taught me how to use a wooden staff." I said thoughtfully. "Oh, Kouta Sensei was my homeroom teacher in Water Valley village."

"I see. Would you like to continue with that training?" Asuma Sensei asked me. I nodded. "I'm not very good with wooden staffs but I know someone who is."

"Oh? Who is it?" I asked eagerly. He chuckled.

"Her name is Tenten. It'll take some time for me to track her down, but once I find her, I'll let you know." Asuma Sensei said smiling.

"Thank you Asuma Sensei!" I said gratefully. After dinner, I ran into Naruto on the way home. He looked exhausted and he had a lot of scratches all over him. "Hey Naruto, how did your mission go?"

"Well, we were supposed to find a cat that ran away from its owner. We found it and returned it to the owner but we spent the whole day chasing it down." Naruto said sighing.

"I'm sorry." I told him sincerely. "Have you had dinner yet?"

"No. Have you?" He asked me.

"Yes, but if you want, I can come with you to Ichiraku's to sit with you." I offered.

"No it's okay. Thanks though. I'll talk to you later okay?" He told me. I frowned.

"Naruto?"

"Yeah?" He asked me nervously.

"I know something is bothering you. What's going on?" I asked him.

"I'm a little bummed that we're not on the same team." He said shrugging and looking a bit embarrassed admitting it out loud. "I don't like being on the same team as that stupid Sasuke." He scowled as he said Sasuke's name. "Sakura doesn't focus on anything but that guy and Sasuke just likes to call me names."

"Do you guys at least try to attempt teamwork?" I asked frowning.

"No... Well, sometimes I do. I forget to most of the time." He said smiling sheepishly.

"It can't be all that bad, right? I understand that it's frustrating being on the same team as them, but you have to make it work. I'm sure that whoever decided these teams put you three together for a good reason. Yes, there are some things you guys need to work on, but I know you guys will make a good team." I told him smiling.

"Thanks Satsuki." He said looking like he was feeling better.

"Also, even if we're not on the same team, I'll always be here for you." I told him as I hugged him. He froze for a second but hugged me back. "Do you still want to sit at Ichiraku's by yourself?" I asked once we pulled out of the hug.

"I do. But I'll definitely be over for breakfast tomorrow. You can believe it!" He said grinning.

"Okay! I'll see you tomorrow morning then!" I said waving to him before he took off to Ichiraku's. I smiled and shook my head. I finally made it home and Mom was still up. "I'm sorry for being out so late."

"It's okay dear. Did you have fun?" She asked me.

"Yeah! Guess what?" I told her excitedly.

"What?" She asked chuckling.

"Asuma Sensei said he knows someone who can help me with my wooden staff training!" I said grinning. I'm so excited I don't think I could sleep.

"That's great!" Mom said hugging me. I hugged her back.

"So are you going to go talk to Shimura-san tomorrow?" I asked her as we pulled out of the hug.

"Yes, I want to discuss my options with her. I'll talk to her tomorrow. Did she give you a specific time?" She asked me.

"No, she just said to come in anytime tomorrow." I said shrugging. "She really liked my kimono."

"I'm glad." She said smiling. I took a shower and got ready for bed. I hope Naruto will cheer up tomorrow. I also hope that we'll have another mission like the one we had today. I decided to go find Mom and let her know that I was going to bed.

"I'm going to go to bed now. I have to get up kind of early again." I said sighing. She chuckled.

"Good night, Satsuki." She told me smiling.

"Good night, Mom." I said smiling before I went to my room and went to bed.


	9. Chapter 8

The next few weeks we got a lot of missions that was similar to our first one and we had to track down a few domestic animals like Team 7 had on their first mission. Mom took the job at Shimura-san's fabric shop. She loves it there! I'm glad that she finally has something to do while I'm gone all day. I felt kind of guilty just leaving her home by herself. Plus she gets to do something she loves. Today started out like it always did. I get up and get ready and then I go into the kitchen to find Naruto and Mom sitting at the table and enjoying breakfast. Naruto has definitely become a part of our family and he pretty much lives here. He's stayed over quite a bit and he's told me about the times he's felt lonely on his days off. So I told him he could stay over on those days. Ino still thinks I have a crush on Naruto. I told Naruto about that and he just laughed. So now every time Ino brings it up, I tell Naruto about it and we get a good laugh out of it. Naruto and I finish our breakfast and then we split off to go meet up with our respective teams. "I'll see you later, Naruto!" I told him as we waved at each other good bye.

"Okay, see you later!" He said before taking off. I meet up with Asuma Sensei and the others at a barbeque place upon Chouji's request. We had been meeting up at this place for four days so far.

"Hey, Shikamaru!" I greeted him as I met up with him. We hadn't quite gotten to the barbeque place yet.

"Hey Satsuki." He greeted with a yawn at the end. "We've been meeting up at this place for four days now." He grumbled.

"Chouji really loves his barbeque." I said chuckling.

"A little too much." Shikamaru said sighing. "What a pain..." We finally made it to the barbeque place and saw that Ino was already inside with Asuma Sensei and Chouji.

"Good morning, Asuma Sensei, Ino, Chouji." I greeted them.

"Good morning you two." Asuma Sensei greeted us with a smile. Chouji was eating barbeque and Ino was staring at him in disgust. I don't blame her because he wasn't exactly using table manners, which was odd because he usually uses table manners. Shikamaru and I took a seat.

"So what are we doing today?" Ino asked curiously.

"Today, Lord Hokage has asked us to work with team 7 today." Asuma Sensei said amused.

"Why?" I asked curiously. I was happy about it though. I get to work on a mission with my best friend and brother. I'm not too excited about being near Sasuke or Sakura though. Naruto has told me stories about those two.

"We were given a mission that requires two teams so I offered to take the mission since our team was the only other team available." Asuma Sensei explained.

"So what kind of mission is it?" Shikamaru asked curiously.

"I don't know yet. We're supposed to meet with Team 7 in Hokage-sama's office after we're done here." Asuma Sensei said smiling.

"I'm done!" Chouji announced after wiping his face. We got up and made our way to Hokage-sama's office. On the way there, we ran into Team 7.

"Are you on your way to get your mission too?" Sakura asked us.

"Yeah," I said shrugging. I wasn't going to tell her. If Kakashi Sensei didn't tell them, then why should I? I spotted the amused looks I was getting from Kakashi Sensei and Asuma Sensei. Fortunately for everyone, we all made it to Hokage-sama's office without incident.

"I'm glad you all made it." Hokage-sama greeted us with a smile as he spotted the confused looks on Sakura's, Sasuke's, and Naruto's faces. "Your mission today is to escort Tazuna-san back to the Land of Waves. He's a bridge builder and he's needed to finish the bridge there."

"Hold on..." Sakura said frowning. "Are we doing this mission together?" I wanted to roll my eyes at her.

"Yes. Both Team 7 and Team 10 are doing this mission together." Hokage-sama said giving Team 7 a stern look.

"Isn't this supposed to be a D rank mission?" Ino asked curiously.

"No. This is a C rank mission. It seems Naruto here thinks you're ready for a more challenging mission." Hokage-sama said scowling at Naruto. So that's what this is about. I sighed.

"Naruto..." I mumbled shaking my head. Naruto just smiled sheepishly.

"Anyways, you may come in Tazuna-san." Hokage-sama called out. An old man in a green sleeveless shirt and dark gray pants walked in. He had a straw hat strapped to his back and several other objects strapped to the rope around his waist.

"Are these brats going to be strong enough to protect me?" The man said scrutinizing us. Hm...? Why would he ask that? A Genin would have no trouble against a regular bandit. Is there something he's not telling us?

"Now, now, Tazuna-san." Kakashi Sensei said smiling with his eyes as he held Naruto back. "I'm sure we're more than enough to take care of a few bandits." Naruto growled in frustration as Kakashi Sensei's grip on him tightened.

"Hmph." Tazuna-san said before turning his back on us. "I'll be waiting by the entrance of the village. I was told it'd be another hour before we got going." And then Tazuna-san left. Naruto finally calmed down and crossed his arms with an angry expression on his face. I chuckled. He definitely doesn't like being talked down to like that.

"So out of curiosity, why did you want both teams to do this mission?" Asuma Sensei asked Hokage-sama.

"It's just a feeling I had." Hokage-sama said turning around in his chair. I'm not one to believe in omens and signs but this feels like one of those things. With that, both groups headed home to prepare for our trip. Apparently it'll take at least a week before we come back home, so I'm going to pack a week's worth of supplies. I looked through my closet and found my wooden staff tucked away in there. Should I bring that with me? It probably wouldn't hurt, but do I really want to lug it around for a week? I don't think so. I need to learn how to store weapons into a scroll. That would make life easier. I shrugged and finished packing.

"Heading out?" Mom asked me from my door.

"Yeah, I'm going to the Land of Waves and I'll be gone for at least a week." I told her.

"Okay, just be careful." She said smiling. I hugged her and kissed her cheek.

"I'll be back soon." I told her smiling. She nodded.

"Good luck on your mission and be safe." She said as I headed to the door.

"I will!" I told her before taking off to the village entrance. This will be the second time I've left the village for a mission. I'm excited! But I also have a bad feeling about this mission. I feel like we don't have all the information.

"Satsuki, hello in there!" Ino's voice said brining me out of my thoughts. Somehow I had arrived at the entrance without even knowing it.

"Oh, sorry." I said smiling sheepishly.

"You're obviously worried about something." Shikamaru said frowning. I shrugged.

"I'm sure it's nothing to worry about." I told them, playing it off. I don't want to say something and cause any issues.

"Just tell us if it doesn't get any better." Chouji told me. I smiled.

"I will, I promise." I said holding out my pinky. He smiled and wrapped his pinky around mine.

"It's a promise." He said looking amused. It was out of habit that I did that though. Naruto and I made promises like that all the time so it was natural for me to do that. When everyone was here, we headed out to the Land of Waves.


	10. Chapter 9

We left the village with Team 7 in the front, Tazuna-san, Kakashi Sensei and Asuma Sensei in the middle, and then Team 10 took care of the back. Asuma Sensei and Kakashi Sensei decided that would be the best formation to take. "I wonder how long it's going to take to get to the Land of Waves." Ino said as we walked.

"I'm not sure. But it took a few days to get to the Leaf Village from the Water Valley Village." I said shrugging.

"So what's the Water Valley Village like?" Chouji asked me.

"Yeah, you hardly talk about it." Ino said pouting.

"It's like the Leaf Village, only it's really tiny." I said grinning.

"Don't be so vague." Ino said lightly pushing me.

"Well, we're..." I keep forgetting that I'm not a part of the Water Valley Village anymore. "Er, it's not a Hidden Village, so they don't have a Kage. But they do have a Village Chief and his name is Iwase-sama. He and a few ninja from the Waterfall Village created the village after some dispute or something in the Waterfall Village." It was quiet in the front, so I assumed they were listening too.

"Are there any pretty landscapes?" Sakura asked curiously.

"Hm... not really. There's a lake my dad and I used to train at near my old house." I said shrugging, forgetting that the only people who knew about my dad were my team and Naruto.

"What happened to your dad, if you don't mind me asking?" Kakashi asked curiously.

"He was killed by enemy ninja who broke into our house." I said frowning. There was no need in giving him all the details.

"I'm sorry to hear that." He said before going silent. When he wasn't looking, I rolled my eyes. It was probably another hour or two when we passed by a giant puddle of water. It hasn't rained for weeks. I thought as my bad feeling from before came back to me. I don't trust that puddle and I don't think Tazuna-san was being very truthful with us in the beginning. I looked at Kakashi Sensei and Asuma Sensei and it looked like they noticed the puddle as well. It looked like they were having a silent conversation between themselves. I wonder what they're planning. I looked around at Ino, Chouji, and Shikamaru and neither of them seemed too bothered by the puddle. I wonder if they noticed it too. It was obvious Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke didn't notice it. They were all bickering with each other... over a rabbit? I guess Naruto flung a kunai in a random direction and scared a rabbit, scaring Sakura in return. I sighed.

"What's he doing? If there are bandits after Tazuna-san, then he's going to lead them right to us." Shikamaru grumbled.

"It looks like those three, despite appearances, are feeling uneasy." I said shrugging.

"I guess." Shikamaru said before turning to Chouji as Chouji started talking to him. About twenty minutes later, Kakashi Sensei and Asuma Sensei are yelling at us to defend Tazuna-san and these two enemy ninjas from the mist attack us. Well, they go after Kakashi Sensei and Asuma Sensei first, but that plan backfires. It looked like their next line of attack was to take one of us hostage, but I won't let that happen. I thought as I pulled out my kunai and shuriken. They use Water Style Jutsu. It would be bad to use my own Water Style Jutsu against them. One of the enemy ninja goes after Sasuke and Naruto, but those two fight him off. The other came after me and Shikamaru. I jumped out of the way of the enemy's claws. It got stuck in a tree and for a moment, I saw something drip off one of the claws. Poison. That's not good.

"They're claws are covered in poison! Don't get hit!" I yelled probably unnecessarily.

"Good find!" Asuma Sensei praised me as he used his Chakra blades to stop some kunai headed towards him. He jumped in to help Sasuke and Naruto. Chouji, Ino, and Sakura were protecting Tazuna-san. It wasn't long before we got the enemy ninjas tied up and Kakashi Sensei was "interrogating" them. It turns out these two are known as the Demon Brothers of the Mist. Naruto came out with a scratch on his hand and freaked out a bit when Kakashi Sensei mentioned the poison. That's when Kakashi Sensei started saying something about not continuing the mission. That got Naruto going off into a speech and ending with him stabbing his own hand with a kunai. I rolled my eyes a bit. If he has the Nine Tails in him, his hand should already be healing. I guess Naruto just doesn't think about it. Finally, we were back on the road to the Land of Waves.

As the sun began to go down, Asuma Sensei and Kakashi Sensei decided it would be best to stop for the night. I felt relieved because my legs were starting to ache. I thought it was bad when Mom and I walked all the way to the Leaf Village. But I guess since this has become an urgent matter, we'll be taking as few stops as possible. With the seven of us Genin, we had the tents set up and ready to go in no time. We split up to go find some firewood and the others went to find some food. I was with Naruto, Ino, and Chouji, while Shikamaru, Sakura, and Sasuke went to get the firewood. "Naruto, how's your hand feeling?" I asked as we searched for a river. We planned on catching some fish.

"It doesn't hurt anymore." Naruto said sounding a bit surprised. I smiled and shook my head. I would ask him if he forgot about the Nine Tails being inside him, but I don't think Ino and Chouji know about that.

"That's good." I said as we approached a river. We made some make-shift fishing poles and when we got tired of them not working, we decided to get into the water ourselves and use our kunai as spears.

"You know Water style jutsu, right Satsuki?" Naruto asked me.

"Yeah, what about it?" I asked curiously.

"Do you know anything that will help us catch the fish faster?" He asked grinning.

"No, I'm afraid not." I said shaking my head.

"Aw," He said sighing.

"Wait, you know Water Style jutsu?" Ino asked shocked.

"Yeah, my dad taught me a few things." I said shrugging. "But none of them would be useful in catching fish."

"What do you know?" Chouji asked curiously.

"I know the Water Clone jutsu, the Hidden Mist jutsu, and the Hidden in Water jutsu." I listed off before I flung a kunai at an unsuspecting fish. I hit it and it stuck to the bottom of the shallow waters.

"That's so cool!" Ino said excitedly.

"Thanks." I said smiling as I retrieved my kunai and fish. About twenty more minutes of this and we managed to catch enough fish for everyone to have two. We returned to camp and found that Sakura, Sasuke, and Shikamaru had returned before us and had the fire going.

"Oh? You guys caught a lot of fish." Asuma Sensei said smiling.

"We got enough for everyone to have two." Ino informed him. She sent a scowl at Chouji probably warning him not to eat more than his share. I chuckled and we all got situated and started cooking the fish. It wasn't long before the sun finally set and we were surrounded by darkness. We decided to take shifts in keeping watch while everyone sleeps after dinner, in case we got ambushed again. We decided to do it in pairs. Kakashi Sensei and Asuma Sensei took first watch and then thirty minutes later, it was Shikamaru and Chouji, then it was me and Naruto, and since there was an odd number, Sasuke, Sakura, and Ino were last. When it was mine and Naruto's turn, we finally got to talk just the two of us.

"Did you forget about the Nine Tails?" I asked him, after bringing up the whole incident with the Demon Brothers.

"Oh yeah." Naruto said smiling sheepishly. "I don't really think about him."

"What do you think about this mission so far?" I asked him curiously.

"Hm..." He said frowning. "I feel like there's more to this than that old man is letting on."

"Me too." I said nodding. "I just hope we don't have another incident like we did with the Demon Brothers."

"Yeah, this is turning out to be really serious." Naruto said sighing. After that we changed the subject to something lighter until it was Chouji and Shikamaru's turn. The next morning, we got around pretty early and packed up everything as quickly as we unpacked it. We had some more fish for breakfast and then we were on our way, after making sure we put the fire out properly. Tazuna-san finally told us what he was keeping from us and it went from a simple C Rank mission to either a B or A Rank mission. Kakashi Sensei and Asuma Sensei were thinking of turning back since we were genin and all, but in the end decided not to. We'd come this far already and there was no point in putting Tazuna-san in anymore danger than he was in already. So that's why I had such a bad feeling... A few days pass and nothing happened really, besides the complaints of never getting to the Land of Waves. And then one day, Ino managed to twist her ankle so now Asuma Sensei was carrying her on his back.

"Geez, Ino. You're so clumsy." Shikamaru said sighing.

"Shut up!" Ino said glaring at him.

"It's true though." Chouji said snickering. "You've always been clumsy growing up." Ino grumbled some not so nice things under her breath as Asuma Sensei chuckled.

"Your dads described you three to the T." Asuma Sensei said sounding amused. And then the topic turned to Ino's, Shikamaru's, and Chouji's dads. Even Kakashi Sensei put his two cents in about them. Were their dads that well known in the village? They're lucky that everyone regards their dads with respect. Memories of Dad flooded my mind. I miss him a lot. He was so kind and strong. He cared a lot about the villagers who started saying bad things about him. I don't get why they would start suddenly saying those things. It's not like he ever did anything to harm them.

"EVERYONE GET DOWN!" Kakashi Sensei's voice made me jump and I quickly got down to the ground. A very large sword went over our heads and got stuck in a tree. Suddenly someone was laughing and I looked around for the source. I saw a man standing on the sword and he had his arms crossed. So he's the one who attacked us.

"Give up the old man and I'll let you live." The man said with narrowed eyes. He had a wild look about him. He was covered in bandages and I got this feeling that if he really wanted to, he could kill us all effortlessly. I don't like it. I noticed that his headband had the Hidden Mist emblem on it, but there was a cut through it. He's a rogue.

"Sorry, but we can't do that." Kakashi Sensei said getting into a defensive stance. He must have sensed how dangerous this guy is.

"Then we'll have to do this the hard way." The guy said before taking off.

"Everyone get ready!" Asuma Sensei said bringing everyone to their senses. We got into position to protect Tazuna-san at all costs. Kakashi Sensei got blown into the direction of a lake at some point and we followed. We eventually learned the name of the man, Zabuza Momochi. Zabuza trapped Kakashi Sensei in his Water Prison jutsu and we were stuck trying to stop his Water Clone. If his Water Clone is this strong, I can't imagine how strong the original is. I thought as I jumped out of the way of the Water Clone's sword. My Water Style jutsu won't do any good here either. Naruto and Sasuke manage to come up with a plan to free Kakashi Sensei and Asuma Sensei acts quickly to get Kakashi Sensei and Naruto away from Zabuza. We spend about another hour fighting Zabuza before we managed to stop him. Just as Kakashi Sensei was about to check to see if Zabuza was dead or not some weird guy with a mask shows up out of the blue. He called himself Haku and he told us how he was an assassin from the Mist Village on assignment to kill Zabuza. And then he was on his way, but it just didn't feel right. Kakashi Sensei passed out after using his Sharigan too much during his fight with Zabuza. We finally reached the Land of Waves and Tazuna-san let us stay at his house until Kakashi Sensei recovered.


	11. Chapter 10

While Kakashi Sensei was resting, and the rest of our injuries were taken care of, we decided to just rest. Sakura, Ino, and I shared a room while the boys had to suffer. Kakashi Sensei got his own room because he needed all the rest he could get, so that left Asuma Sensei, Chouji, Shikamaru, Naruto, and Sasuke to share a room, which isn't so bad now that I think about it. Well, it may be bad to them. Oh well, it's not my problem. Ino, Sakura, and I are lying down on our futons in our room. Sakura and Ino were chatting and for once they weren't fighting, which was a miracle and a half. I decided to take a nap and it wasn't long before I fell asleep. I woke up some time later to Ino telling me that Kakashi Sensei had woken up. "That's good." I said smiling after she told me.

"Yeah, he and Asuma Sensei were talking about what to do in the meantime." Ino said shrugging.

"What to do?" I asked confused.

"Kakashi Sensei still isn't in any condition to fight and Asuma Sensei has agreed to have us protect Tazuna-san until Kakashi Sensei is feeling better. Asuma Sensei also suggested that we do some training while we wait for the bridge to be built." Ino explained.

"I wonder what kind of training he had in mind." I said thoughtfully.

"I don't know, but I can't wait." Ino said excitedly.

"I thought you didn't like to train very much." I said confused. She blushed. "Oh. I get it." I chuckled. It was because of Sasuke that she was excited. She wants to show off in front of Sasuke 'to win him over'. I'm sure Sakura is thinking the same thing. Ino and I joined the others outside in the forest. Kakashi Sensei was using a crutch to get around and it looked like he and Asuma Sensei were about to tell us something.

"What are we doing, Kakashi Sensei?" Sakura asked curiously.

"Since I'm in no condition to really be doing anything, Asuma and I have decided to have you work on training while we wait for the bridge to get finished." Kakashi Sensei explained. Did Asuma Sensei tell Ino, Chouji, and Shikamaru this and not the other three?

"So, what will we be doing?" Naruto asked eagerly.

"Hm... I was thinking of something like this." Kakashi Sensei said as he started walking towards a tree. Even though he was really close, he didn't stop. The next thing any of us knew, he put his left foot on the trunk of the tree and started walking up the tree effortlessly. I watched in amazement as he walked all the way to one of the lower branches and continued walking until he was completely upside down and hanging from the tree.

"Show off..." Shikamaru muttered. I giggled as no one else seemed to have heard him. And then Kakashi Sensei and Asuma Sensei went into how we were supposed to use Chakra control to do that. Sakura unsurprisingly got it on her first try. I've noticed that she's really good at Chakra control. Ino had a bit of trouble and it only took her three tries to get it down. Shikamaru and Chouji got it down easily enough. Sasuke and Naruto didn't get it at all and had to work on it more. When I gave it a try, I almost slipped but got my chakra under control and went up the tree effortlessly.

"Good job everyone." Asuma Sensei said encouragingly. Naruto and Sasuke were basically left to keep on working on it by themselves. I worked on it for a little bit longer because I felt like I could do it better. Naruto and Sasuke sort of started getting competitive with each other and used kunai to mark where they stopped. I smiled. Those two are too stubborn to admit that they have a bond with each other. I decided to watch them a little longer before Ino came to find me. She said her and Sakura were helping out Tazuna-san's daughter get stuff from the market for dinner and asked me to tag along. I nodded and took one last look at Naruto before leaving. Those two were so engrossed in what they were doing that they probably didn't hear us leaving.

"Satsuki, did you have any friends in your old village?" Sakura asked curiously as the three of us followed Tazuna-san's daughter. Ino scowled at her. I smiled.

"Yeah, I had a friend. She was my best friend too." I said thinking of Kaori. Her short brown hair and blue eyes, her freckles dotted across her face... I wonder how she's doing. I know I should be upset with her for what she did, but we'd been friends since we were babies.

"What happened?" Sakura asked curiously.

"Well... when my father passed away, the villagers spread lies about my dad and she bought into them. So, she treated me horribly like the other kids did." I said shrugging. I didn't want to get into details.

"Oh, I'm sorry Satsuki." She said looking down. I smiled.

"Don't worry about it, Sakura. You didn't know." I said hoping she would be nicer to me now. I still don't approve of how she talks down to Naruto, but she has some good sides to her. Maybe this is what Naruto sees in her. We helped carry the groceries back to the house and by the time dinner was ready, it was dark outside. Naruto and Sasuke hadn't come back yet, so I decided to get them. When I found them, they were lying on the ground and breathing hard. I rolled my eyes. They pushed themselves too hard. "Dinner is ready." I told them.

"Oh, hey Satsuki!" Naruto said energetically. He and Sasuke got up.

"You two have been working hard." I said smiling as we all made our way back to the house.

"Yeah, I'm definitely going to master this before Sasuke." Naruto said before scowling over at Sasuke. Sasuke just rolled his eyes and ignored him.

"You should wash up before you eat." I suggested once we were at the house. The two nodded and headed off to the nearest bathroom.

"Where are Naruto and Sasuke?" Kakashi Sensei asked as I entered the kitchen.

"They're washing up." I said sitting down next to Shikamaru and Sakura. "They'll be here soon."

"Those two are working really hard." Asuma Sensei said sounding impressed.

"Nah, they're just being their usual stubborn selves." Kakashi Sensei said shrugging. Seriously, how does this guy eat without removing his mask!? We started eating without Sasuke and Naruto because we were too hungry to wait any longer. They finally showed up and different conversations were going on. It was nice for a change. It kind of reminded me of when I was back in the Water Valley village and Dad had just come home from a successful mission. Mom and I surprised him with dinner. Kaori, her twin brothers, and her parents came over for dinner too, now that I think about it. It was fun. Her brothers were also able to manipulate chakra, so they were going to start at the academy after a year. I wonder if Kaori became a genin too. Does she still have those dizzy spells because she's not drinking enough liquids? Does she still think I'm awful because of the lies the adults were spreading about my dad? I didn't feel hungry anymore. I put my chopsticks down.

"Satsuki?" Ino asked me looking worried.

"I'm going to go to bed early. I'm feeling sleepy." I said smiling. "Thank you for the meal." I bowed respectfully towards Tazuna-san and his daughter before going to my room. I said I was sleepy, but I'm not. So, I opened the doors that led out to a balcony of sorts. It was the part of the house that was hanging over the water. About five minutes later, there was a knock on the door to the room.

"Satsuki? Are you still awake?" It was Naruto. I went to the door and let Naruto in. "Are you okay? Ino and Sakura told us how they asked you about your friend from the Water Valley village."

"Yeah, I'm okay." I said as we went back through the other door. "After talking about it, it brought up some memories of when I was younger. I'm not blaming Sakura for it or anything. I was just wondering how my old friend was doing."

"Do you want to talk about her?" Naruto asked me as we sat down and dangled our legs over the edge of the balcony.

"Sure." I said smiling. "Her name is Kaori. We'd been friends since we were babies. We were always together when I wasn't with my dad. I remember this one time we made flower crowns for all the girls in our class, which wasn't very many."

"How come?" Naruto asked curiously.

"Well, the village is really small and there are only six, well, now five ninja families in the whole village. They're not very big families, so there were about ten kids in the class. A few of them were twins. Anyways, most of my classmates were boys and there were only five girls, including myself, in that class." I explained. "Kaori and I... we got picked on sometimes by the older kids, but we always fought back and made them run away, crying." I giggled at the memory of the time one of the older boys thought they were going to scare us, but we'd figured out their plan in two point five seconds and devised a plan of our own when they weren't looking. It was great! The terror on their faces was hilarious!

"What? What did you remember?" Naruto asked eagerly.

"So, these older boys decided they wanted to scare Kaori and I and we ended up scaring them instead." I said before cracking up. I couldn't stop laughing about it for two weeks after the event and I still can't stop laughing. Naruto laughed with me. I feel like Naruto and I have been friends as long as Kaori and I had been friends. Finally, we calmed down and I really did start to feel sleepy. "Thanks Naruto." I said, yawning a bit.

"You're welcome, Satsuki. I'll see you in the morning." He said before leaving. I got out my futon and went bed, I was so tired now. It had been a good day. The next day, Ino asked me if I was okay and I told her I was fine. Sasuke and Naruto stayed to work on their training and Sakura decided to stay and help out around the house, so Asuma Sensei, Ino, Shikamaru, Chouji, and I went with Tazuna-san to the bridge. Seeing all of these people working on the bridge reminds me of when Dad did some construction work. One year we had so much rain, that some of the houses and buildings all flooded. Dad did a lot of work that year helping where he could. Seeing him work so hard, made me want to help too. But of course, at the time, I was too young to be able to do that kind of work.

"Okay, so I need two of you on either side of the bridge and I'll stick close to Tazuna-san." Asuma Sensei said as soon as we arrived. We split up with me and Shikamaru on one end and Ino and Chouji on the other. Shikamaru sighed when we finally made it to our 'post'.

"What's up?" I asked him.

"This is a drag." He said frowning. "I wasn't expecting to go on a C Rank mission for it to turn out to be a life or death situation."

"You can always blame Naruto." I said snickering. "He was the one who complained to Hokage-sama about not getting any 'cool' missions."

"I'm sorry but Naruto is a moron." Shikamaru grumbled.

"Yeah, but he's there for you when it counts." I said smiling.

"That's usually because he's the one who causes the trouble." Shikamaru said shaking his head. I giggled.

"He wouldn't be Naruto if he didn't cause at least a little bit of trouble." I said grinning.

"That's true." Shikamaru said smiling. "I'm sorry to hear about what happened with your friend."

"Oh, don't worry about it." I said looking out at the sea. This is the first time I've seen it, despite living near the Waterfall Village and living in the Water Valley village most of my life. It was beautiful when it wasn't foggy outside. "It doesn't bother me as much anymore."

"I'm glad to hear it." Shikamaru said and then that was it for conversation. We spent the rest of our time watching out for anyone who might attack Tazuna-san.


	12. Chapter 11

Naruto and Sasuke finally master their Chakra control and Kakashi Sensei has recovered from his Chakra exhaustion. All of us headed out to the bridge, except Naruto. He pushed himself too hard last night, so we decided to let him rest. Things started to get bad after an hour or two. The fog got denser than normal and Zabuza showed up. Sakura, Ino, and Chouji stayed with Tazuna-san. Sasuke, Shikamaru, and I assisted Kakashi Sensei and Asuma Sensei. Those two fought off Zabuza while Sasuke, Shikamaru, and I got stuck fighting Haku. I knew something wasn't right. Sasuke and I got trapped inside Haku's Ice Mirrors. "Satsuki!" Shikamaru yelled as Haku disappeared into the mirrors.

"Can you trap him with your Shadow Possession?" I asked.

"No." Shikamaru said sounding grim. That sucks. Sasuke and I are back to back as Haku went around the mirrors and started throwing senbon at us. We deflected them with our kunai.

"Oh, you two are pretty good, but how long do you think you can keep it up?" Haku asked before throwing more. I was getting tired as I dodged senbon after senbon. What are we supposed to do in this situation? I was starting to get sloppy and a few senbon had hit me and Sasuke wasn't doing any better. It felt like a long time had passed before Naruto jumps in and suddenly pushes me out of the mirrors. I sat there in shock for a moment.

"NARUTO!" I yelled as Shikamaru pulled me away. I wasn't able to help at all and Naruto had to save me. I assisted where I could with Asuma Sensei and Kakashi Sensei until I felt something awful in the pit of my stomach. I turned to look at the Ice Mirrors and I faintly heard Naruto calling out Sasuke's name. What's going on in there? And then it was as if a tornado was forming right before my eyes. I heard something that sounded like a growl, but it wasn't your typical growling. No it didn't sound like any animal I've ever heard. Then I gasped. "Naruto!" It had to be Naruto. I saw some red Chakra bubbling out from inside the Ice Mirrors. This isn't good. I looked over at Asuma Sensei and Kakashi Sensei but they were preoccupied with Zabuza. Suddenly the Ice Mirrors broke and Naruto was on top of Haku, throwing punch after punch at him. "Naruto! Calm down!" I called out to him. I didn't feel safe getting too close to him. Sakura went to Sasuke immediately. Sasuke didn't look too good. I went back to watching Naruto and saw Haku's mask crack and break. Naruto stopped his fist before it flew into Haku's face.

"Why did you stop?" Haku asked him.

"Why are you doing this?" Naruto said as the red Chakra started to dissipate. He got off of Haku and put some distance between him and Haku. I went to Naruto to back him up. Haku went into a speech about how he met Zabuza and how he would gladly give his life for Zabuza's. Naruto tried to reason with him but Haku wouldn't listen. I looked over to see how Asuma Sensei and Kakashi Sensei were doing and saw they were still in a struggle. Ino and Shikamaru decided to try and use their Shadow Possession Jutsu/Mind Transfer Jutsu combo on Zabuza and for a split second it worked, because Ino successfully stopped Zabuza's body from moving and gave Kakashi Sensei enough time to use his Chidori on Zabuza before Ino went back to her own body. It looked like Chidori was going to hit, but then Haku jumped in the way. "Haku!" Naruto yelled and I hugged him. "Let me go!"

"Naruto, it's too late!" I told him as tears started to form in my eyes. "He's gone." Naruto looked at me for a few seconds before calming down some. He turned and glared at Zabuza. Zabuza was laughing about Haku and that made Naruto go into a rant. About this time, the man named Gato showed up with his thugs. That coward. I thought glaring at the man.

"What's the matter Zabuza? I ordered you to kill that bridge builder and you've failed." Gato said sneering at him.

"Humph," Zabuza said glaring at him. Something seems to have changed within Zabuza because he started attacking the thugs. The thugs injured him further and when Zabuza couldn't stand anymore, he collapsed on the ground next to Haku. Gato was laughing and gloating before Zabuza managed to kill him right then and there. The thugs without a leader looked lost. Naruto was getting really angry again and I grabbed his hand.

"Satsuki." Naruto said surprised.

"Believe me, I'm angry too Naruto." I told him, sniffling a bit. "But we can't just charge at them blindly."

"It'll be okay." Kakashi Sensei said walking up behind us. "Naruto? Do you still have some Chakra to spare?"

"Yeah." Naruto said grinning. I let go of Naruto and he did a few signs before saying, "Multi-Shadow Clone Jutsu!" I gasped as about twenty or so clones popped up. So this is the jutsu he learned.

"Do you mind if I borrow your jutsu?" Kakashi Sensei asked.

"Nope." Naruto said and Kakashi Sensei did the same exact signs and soon there was about the same amount of Kakashi Sensei's as there were of Naruto's.

"Let's go!" Kakashi Sensei said and all the clones started attacking the thugs. I smiled and joined in. It wasn't long before all the thugs were taken care of. Before we left the Land of Waves, we decided to bury Zabuza and Haku next to each other. It was mostly Naruto's idea, but Kakashi Sensei agreed with it. I guess he felt like it was necessary. I do to. It just goes to show that even if they pose as an enemy, they have a reason to be doing what they're doing. After a long good bye, both teams returned to the Leaf Village. Mom is going to flip when she finds out how this mission turned out. I thought as we walked back. The trip back was much quicker now that the bridge was built. Naruto was talking excitedly about their next mission already. I smiled and shook my head. There was no way Hokage-sama was going to let us have another mission like that after he finds out the details.

"I'm ready to not move for a long time." Ino said sighing. I giggled. We had finally made it back to the village.

"I'm sure we'll have another mission tomorrow." I said grinning. She groaned.

"If we do, I hope it's something easier." She said looking worn out.

"It definitely will be." Shikamaru said walking next to us. "There's no way Hokage-sama is going to give us a mission above D Rank after he finds out what happened."

"It was nice getting out of the village though." Sakura said thoughtfully. I was thinking the same thing, but I didn't say it because I haven't been here for that long. We walked to Hokage-sama's office in silence. We were exhausted. Well, I don't know about Asuma Sensei and Kakashi Sensei. I'm sure they're used to tougher missions than this. We stood there in silence as Kakashi Sensei and Asuma Sensei explained to Hokage-sama what happened. As I predicted, he didn't seem too happy about it. But he was relieved that we made it back safely and then asked for a more thorough report from the Jonin later. We were dismissed after that and told that we had tomorrow off, to which we all cheered to; except Naruto of course. He just wants to go on as many missions as possible. Naruto walked home with me.

"Man, I really wanted to go on another mission tomorrow." Naruto said frowning.

"I know, but we need to rest Naruto." I told him shaking my head. "I want to go on another mission too, but we can't just keep going without any breaks."

"I know." Naruto said crossing his arms and looking away from me. I smiled.

"If you want, we can do some training tomorrow." I offered.

"Really?" Naruto asked excitedly.

"Yeah. I know it's not the same as going on a mission, but I feel like I'm slacking in my taijutsu training." I said shrugging. Plus I noticed that Naruto isn't that great in taijutsu, but he's decent. So I figured I could help him out too.

"Okay!" He said eagerly.

"Will you be staying over for dinner tonight?" I asked him.

"Yeah, if you don't mind." Naruto said as we turned the last corner to get to my house.

"You know we don't." I told him.

"I know." Naruto said smiling. "It's weird, but I'm still getting used to it." I guess it made sense. He hadn't really had anyone up until he met Iruka Sensei and even though he had Iruka Sensei, he'd never been invited over to someone's house to stay the night, let alone to come over for dinner. The next day, Naruto and I headed out early to go for a run and then we ended up at training grounds number 3 to start taijutsu training. Naruto and I started sparing and he used his shadow clone jutsu a lot and I kept telling him that didn't count as taijutsu training. He just ignored me though. He kept coming at me with clones, so I just focused on taking them out with my taijutsu. I wanted to tell him he was being reckless with his chakra, but he didn't give me chance to speak. Finally, we were both lying on the ground, trying to catch our breath.

"Naruto, that was reckless." I told him.

"I know." Naruto grumbled.

"Satsuki!" I looked up and saw Asuma Sensei walking up to us. "I should've known you were here." A girl in a pink Chinese-styled top and blue ninja pants was walking beside him. She had brown hair that was pulled into two buns on either side of her head and she had brown eyes. She looked like she was little older than Naruto and I. "This is Tenten. She said she'd help you with your staff training." I got up and smiled.

"It's nice to meet you. I'm Satsuki." I said bowing to her.

"It's nice to meet you, too, Satsuki." She said smiling. "I saw you fighting Naruto just now. You looked good."

"Thanks," I said grinning.

"I have a teammate that can only use taijutsu and he does all this crazy workout stuff." She said shaking her head. "You're not like that are you?"

"No." I said shaking my head. Tenten looked relieved.

"Oh thank God." She said looking happy. "Did you bring your staff with you today?"

"No, I didn't." I said sadly.

"It's okay, I've got a spare!" She said pulling out a scroll. She summoned two metal staffs out with the scroll and handed one to me. Naruto and Asuma Sensei stood off to the side giving us plenty of room. "Let's see what you got! Come at me with everything you've got!"

"Hai!" I said before charging at her with my staff. I went to attack her with my staff and she countered it with her own staff. I pulled away from her and went after her again. This continued for a little while before Tenten called it quits. We were both covered in sweat and trying to catch our breath.

"You're good." She said complimented. "Honestly, I'm glad I'm able to keep up with you."

"Why?" I asked curiously.

"I can barely keep up with Lee most of the time." She said sighing. "He always pushes things way too far. Do me a favor and don't ever try to get taijutsu training from Lee." I'm assuming Lee is the teammate she was talking about earlier.

"Okay," I said giggling.

 **A/N: So while I was writing the last bit with Tenten in it, I kept thinking that Tenten was one of the most underrated characters in Naruto. She is a bamf and I admire her strength and resolve no matter how much she struggled to find something she specialized in. I was also getting nostalgia feels thinking about when Naruto faced off with Obito and Naruto had his friends come help him in the end in Shippuden. So there's that too. Thanks for reading**!


	13. Chapter 12

Tenten continued to work on training me with a staff on our days off and Naruto got into more shenanigans. I'd become accustomed to the daily life of the village and I didn't feel like an outsider anymore. Everyone here has been so nice to my mom and I and I can't dream of ever leaving this place. The ninja especially take care of each other and don't give out their comrades no matter what the situation is. It's very admirable and I'm starting to understand what Hokage-sama talks about when he says "Will of Fire". Ino, Shikamaru, Chouji, and I are heading to Hokage-sama's office. Asuma Sensei said he had something to do and then he'd meet us there. We weren't sure what was going to happen, but I'm assuming we're going to be given a mission. "I wonder what kind of mission we're getting." Ino said as we walked.

"I get the feeling that it's going to be something really serious." Shikamaru said before sighing. "What a drag..."

"I hope it's nothing bad." Chouji said worriedly.

"I don't think it will." I said smiling at him. "I wonder what Asuma Sensei had to do though."

"Who knows?" Shikamaru said shrugging. We finally made it to Hokage-sama's office and Asuma Sensei was waiting outside the door. He smiled and gestured for us to go inside. We walked in and the first thing I notice is Hokage-sama looks grim and worried.

"We're here for our mission." Asuma Sensei said walking in after us. I get the feeling Asuma Sensei knows what the mission is.

"Yes." Hokage-sama said sighing and shuffling a few papers. "I'm sorry, Satsuki. But your mission is to help rebuild the school in the Water Valley village. I tried to find another team to do it, but your team is the only one available." I felt my eyes widen in shock. I have to go back there so soon? I mean, I meant to go back one day, but not this soon. I could feel everyone staring at me, probably concerned. I took in a deep breath and let it out.

"That's okay, Hokage-sama. You did what you could." I told him smiling. He nodded, looking a little relieved, but I could tell he was still concerned. "What happened to the school?"

"Someone burned it down a few weeks ago and they're short on help." Hokage-sama answered. I nodded, thinking about all the kids there. "No one was hurt."

"That's good." I said smiling. I wonder if Asuma Sensei had gone to talk to Mom about it. We agreed to meet up at the village entrance in thirty minutes. Before we took off, I told them it was about a three to four day trip to the Water Valley village. When I got home to get my stuff together, Mom was waiting for me. She hugged me as soon as I got through the door. I hugged her back. "I'm a little scared." I admitted.

"That's okay. Just remember that you're a resident of the Leaf Village now, so you don't have to stay in the Water Valley village ever again." Mom told me. I smiled.

"I will." I went to my room and packed quite a few things before leaving. Tenten showed me the summoning jutsu and Asuma Sensei helped me with it some more when Tenten was busy with missions. So now I can carry my weapons in a scroll! That makes life so much easier! "I'll be back soon, Mom!" I told her before taking off. I was the last to arrive at the entrance. "Sorry for being late."

"Don't be." Asuma Sensei said smiling. He pulled out a map and we went over it before we took off. We passed Tenten's team on the way out and I finally got to meet Guy Sensei, Lee, and Neji. Tenten told me a lot about them when we took breaks from training. Guy Sensei and Lee are as every bit of energetic as Tenten had described them as and it was funny. It kind of threw me off to see them in matching green jumpsuits. Two days pass and Ino is already complaining about walking too long and wondering when we're going to get there.

"It'll be another day or so." I told her.

"Isn't there a shortcut or something?" She asked sighing.

"Not that I know of." I said shrugging. "Before moving to the Leaf Village, I'd never been outside of the village."

"You didn't explore it?" Chouji asked curiously.

"Well, Iwase-sama was very adamant about the kids staying safe so he didn't want the kids to go very far." I said shrugging.

"What kind of person is Iwase-san?" Asuma Sensei asked me.

"Hm... I don't know him that well. He's kind and shows compassion to the villagers, but up until my mom and I left, I felt like it was all fake. I'm not saying that he's not a good person. I just feel like he's hiding something." I said shrugging. He nodded, looking thoughtful.

"Well, if those kids do one thing to suggest they're going to hurt you, I won't stand for it." Ino said scowling. I smiled.

"Thanks Ino. But if you did that, then we'd probably fail the mission." I told her truly grateful to have her as a friend.

"Yes, we don't want to do that." Asuma Sensei said chuckling.

"I know that." Ino muttered, still scowling. Another day and a half goes by and we finally reached the Water Valley village. It looked the same as I had left it. Iwase-sama was waiting for us at the entrance.

"You must be the ninjas from the Leaf." Iwase-sama said before he noticed me. "Oh, Satsuki. I didn't expect to see you here again."

"Neither did I, Iwase-sama." I replied.

"Welcome back," He told me with a smile. Then he turned to the others. "I'm Iwase Dan, I'm the Chief of this village."

"It's nice to meet you." Asuma Sensei said. "I'm Sarutobi Asuma and this is my team, Yamanaka Ino, Nara Shikamaru, and Akamichi Chouji. It seems you already know Satsuki."

"Yes." Iwase-sama said before moving aside and letting us in. I noticed there were some guard ninjas with him. I didn't recognize them. They must be new. "I've had someone clean up your old house, Satsuki. So you're all welcome to stay there. The kitchen is fully stocked. I'm sure you don't need me to take you there."

"No, I remember." I told him.

"I'll let you rest for the night. Tomorrow morning, meet Kouta Sensei at the school. He'll tell you what needs to be done." Iwase-sama said before walking off.

"Why do I get the feeling he was talking more to Satsuki than the rest of us?" Ino said frowning.

"That's because he was." Asuma Sensei said frowning. "He's not very hospitable is he?"

"Apparently Iwase-sama had a bad experience with ninja from outside of this village, so he's not very fond of outsiders." I said shrugging. "But it's weird though. Those ninja guarding Iwase-sama didn't look familiar to me."

"Hm." Asuma Sensei said thoughtfully. "We can worry about it later. Where exactly is your old house?"

"This way." I said before taking off in the direction of it. The road to the house was still very familiar to me and it was odd to not see any kids out since it was still just late in the afternoon and the sun hadn't gone down yet. Maybe they're all at the park. We got to the house and I couldn't make myself go any further.

"Are you going to be okay, Satsuki?" Chouji asked me looking concerned.

"I don't know." I said honestly. Being back here makes me feel uneasy. Plus the way Iwase-sama acted as if nothing was wrong kind of made me angry. I took in a deep breath and let it out before I forced myself to go inside the house. Everything looked the same as if Mom and I hadn't left at all and that made me uncomfortable. "Um, there are two bedrooms. There's one over there on the left and the other near the back of the house. That's the bathroom and the living room is in there." I said using my finger to point to where everything was. Everyone sort of just explored the house and I stayed in the kitchen. I couldn't force myself to go further into the house. There were just too many bad memories. I decided to make some dinner to keep things off my mind. Even the utensils were where Mom and I left them. I'm not that great of a cook but it's still pretty decent. I thought as I looked through the cupboards and the fridge.

"What are you doing, Satsuki?" Ino asked me as she walked back into the kitchen.

"I'm making dinner." I told her as I started to pull some stuff out.

"Can I help?" She asked me.

"Yes please." I told her smiling. It's more fun when someone's helping you cook. "Where are the others?"

"They're out exploring the village." She said as she looked around for pots and pans. I nodded and focused on preparing the meat and vegetables. "What are you making?"

"I know it's more of a winter dish, but it's really the only thing I'm good at making." I said shaking my head. "But I'm going to make a Hot Pot."

"Ooh, that sounds yummy!" Ino said excitedly. She finally found the pots and pans we needed and helped me with the vegetables and meat. Some hours later, we were all sitting at the table and enjoying dinner.

"This is really good, Satsuki!" Chouji said smiling.

"Thank you, Chouji." I said smiling.

"Satsuki, I didn't notice a lot of kids out earlier." Asuma Sensei said frowning.

"I thought it was kind of weird when we first arrived too." I said a bit worried. "I don't know if they were just inside or what. Usually they're out running around and playing."

"Maybe the adults put a curfew out in case whoever burned down the school decides to go after them." Shikamaru suggested.

"That's a possibility." I said shrugging.

"You said this Kouta Sensei guy gave you taijutsu training right?" Ino asked.

"Yeah. He's a really strict person and doesn't do a whole lot of smiling." I said shrugging. "But he does care about the kids and their safety."

"So he won't be easy to get along with, huh?" Asuma Sensei said chuckling.

"Exactly." I said giggling. Naruto wouldn't like him very much either, now that I think about it. After dinner came the hard part. Who was going to sleep where? I didn't want to sleep in my parents' old room, so I decided to let the boys have that room while Ino and I slept in my old room. I wished everyone a good night and laid down on my futon. It took me at least an hour before I could fall asleep.


	14. Chapter 13

When I got up this morning, I was feeling nervous about meeting Kouta Sensei. I'm not sure why though. He didn't say anything bad about Dad that I know of. I decided to shake off the feeling for now. Right now, I needed to focus on making breakfast with Ino. It was definitely odd sleeping in my old room again. It made me think of my dad and I didn't want to be in that room any longer than I had to. I hurried after Ino and found everyone sitting in the kitchen. "Good morning, Satsuki." Chouji greeted me with a smile.

"Good morning, Chouji." I said smiling. Ino and I got started on breakfast as the other three talked.

"This village is pretty small." Asuma Sensei said thoughtfully. "I'm assuming the classes weren't very big at the school."

"Yeah, there aren't very many ninja families in this village." I said shrugging. After breakfast, we headed over to the school. All the nervousness I had earlier came back as soon as the school was in sight.

"Are you sure you're okay, Satsuki?" Asuma Sensei asked me.

"Yeah, I'm sure." I said smiling. Kouta Sensei was there waiting on us. He didn't look any different than the last time I saw him. He has long black hair, tied back in a low pony tail and he was looking indifferent with his dark brown eyes. His skin was very pale underneath his plain blue shirt and pants. "Hello Kouta Sensei." I greeted him.

"Satsuki." He said with a nod. "So, you're all here to help with rebuilding the school?"

"Yes, sir." Asuma Sensei said smiling. Kouta Sensei nodded to himself before turning away from us. It was kind of awkward, but we set to work and helped anywhere we could. A lot of the villagers stared at me but for the most part left me alone. Ino made sure to stick by me everywhere I went and occasionally Chouji or Shikamaru would check on us. I'm glad I was put on this team. I thought happily as I continued to sand the piece of wood I was working on. During our lunch break, Ino was talking about how handsome Kouta Sensei looked. I giggled at her.

"What?" She asked me. "It's true!"

"I know, but it's just weird since I've known him since I was very little." I said shrugging.

"Oh, I didn't think about that. Sorry." She said looking sheepish.

"Don't worry about it." I said grinning. We got our work done for the day and headed back to the house. It was easier to enter it this time. We had an early dinner, which consisted of leftovers from yesterday. I may have made too much hotpot yesterday. After dinner, we all felt like we could use a good bath, but the bathroom is really small and there are five of us.

"There's a bath house, why don't we go use it?" Chouji suggested.

"That sounds fantastic! I could do with a bath right about now." Ino said excitedly.

"What do you say, Satsuki?" Asuma Sensei asked looking at me. I shrugged.

"Sure." I said smiling.

"Yay!" Ino said before going back to our room. I assume she's grabbing some things.

"Are you sure?" Shikamaru asked me.

"Yeah, it should be fun." I said shrugging. We grabbed our stuff and headed over to the bathhouse. It must be new because it wasn't here before. Ino and I went into the women's side. "I've never been to a bathhouse before."

"Really?" Ino asked me, looking shocked.

"This one wasn't here before, so..." I said shrugging.

"When we get back from our mission, we are so going!" She said grinning. I smiled.

"I'd like that." I said as we entered the bathhouse area. We rinsed off before we entered the giant bath. It was really warm and relaxing for my sore muscles. I almost fell asleep! Ino kept me awake though.

"Is there anyone you have a crush on back in the village?" Ino asked me, smirking.

"If you're referring to Naruto, then you're mistaken." I said sighing.

"You've been protective over him since you came to the village. How can you not have a crush on him?" Ino said exasperatedly.

"I've already told you." I said smiling. "Naruto is like a sibling to me and he feels the same way. When I learned that he didn't have a family to go home to from Iruka Sensei, I decided to make Naruto my friend. And as I learned more about him, we just sort of bonded and it was like gaining another family member."

"I've never really thought about it. Naruto not having anyone to go home to." Ino said sadly. "The adults growing up always said to stay away from Naruto, but I never understood why. He was always by himself when I was younger and then when we were all in the academy, I was surprised to see him there. It must've been Hokage-sama's doing. After he got into the academy though, he changed and started acting out. He didn't do that before."

"He wants to be recognized as Naruto Uzumaki." I said shrugging.

"Do you really think he's going to be Hokage one day?" Ino asked looking up at the ceiling.

"I know he is. He's stubborn once he's set his mind to something." I said giggling.

"That's true." Ino said smiling. We talked a little bit more before getting out. We met up with the boys outside and headed back to the house. We were gone maybe for an hour or two. When we reached the house, something felt off to me.

"Asuma Sensei, this doesn't feel right." I said frowning.

"I agree." He said with a frown of his own. We cautiously went through the door and nothing looked out of place. "Check the bedrooms." We split up and when Ino and I walked into our shared room, we saw all of our belongings strewn about. Mine more than Ino's. What's going on? Ino and I went through our things and found that nothing has gone missing. We went back into the kitchen and saw the boys sitting there.

"Nothing was taken. Was it the same for you guys?" I asked them.

"Yeah." Shikamaru said frowning. "Whoever did this was obviously looking for something."

"The question is; who did it?" Asuma Sensei said as he pulled out a cigarette and lit it up.

"It might have been the kids just trying to cause trouble." I said shrugging. "Before my mom and I left, they would break into our house all the time and destroy things."

"That's awful." Chouji said frowning.

"Maybe..." Shikamaru said sighing. "What a drag."

"Let's get to sleep for now. We can think about this tomorrow." Asuma Sensei said, and everyone agreed to it. It had been a long day. I thought as I climbed into my futon. The next few days went without incident and we never did find out who broke into the house and went through our things. It was strange. Kouta Sensei oversaw the rest of the construction of the school.

"Um, Satsuki?" A familiar voice said causing me to stop what I was doing and look up.

"Kaori-chan?" I asked in surprise. "What are you doing here?"

"I... I um, I want to apologize for treating you the way I did before you left." She said rubbing her arm, anxiously. "I'm really, really sorry."

"I forgive you... I guess." I said smiling, feeling unsure.

"Really?" Kaori-chan asked looking shocked.

"Yeah." I told her. She smiled.

"I'm glad to hear it! I felt really terrible for treating you that way." She said sounding relieved. "Oh, I've got to go. Can I see you off when you leave?"

"Yeah." I said nodding.

"Okay, I'll see you then!" She said before taking off. Finally, it was time to leave and Kaori-chan, Iwase-sama, and Kouta Sensei saw us off. I waved before turning and soon we started our long journey back to the Leaf. I'm still weirded out by Iwase-sama hiring outsiders to be guards. What happened while I've been away? Plus, who went through our things? Whatever they were looking for, they obviously didn't find it.

"What are you thinking about Satsuki?" Chouji asked me as we walked.

"Oh, I was just wondering who went through our stuff." I said shrugging. "They didn't find what they were looking for."

"I feel like they were after your things." Shikamaru said thoughtfully.

"Why do you say that?" Ino asked curiously.

"After looking at everyone's belongings strewn about like they were, it looks like the person went through Satsuki's things the most since literally everything she has was thrown everywhere."

"That's true." Ino said frowning.

"Can you think of anything that you have that someone would want to take?" Asuma Sensei asked me.

"No, nothing of value." I said thoughtfully. "I mean, my mom and I aren't exactly rich, but we're pretty well off."

"It is pretty odd." Asuma Sensei commented. After that we didn't talk about it again as Ino changed the subject back to Bath Houses. Chouji also mentioned something about celebrating our mission success with barbeque. Asuma Sensei agreed to treat us! Yay! Free barbeque! I'm pretty sure Chouji was more excited about than I was. I just miss being home with Mom. And I hope Naruto is doing okay. I'm sure he is, but I know how much trouble he likes to get himself in too. When we reached the Leaf Village, I felt relieved to be home finally. I also felt like I could relax now that I was back.

"It feels good to be back." Ino said in relief.

"No kidding. I don't think we were really wanted there." Shikamaru said frowning. We reported back to Hokage-sama and after about twenty minutes, we were free to go.

"Barbeque!" Chouji said excitedly.

"Alright, alright." Asuma Sensei said chuckling. "Let's go." Ino, Chouji, and I cheered as we followed him and Shikamaru to our usual barbeque spot. After I ate my fill, I told the others I'd see them later.

"Don't forget! We're going to the bath house!" Ino said before I could leave.

"Don't worry, Ino! I won't forget!" I told her grinning.

"We can go tomorrow since it's our day off!" Ino said excitedly. "And we can invite Sakura!"

"Sure! Sounds great!" I said before leaving. Ugh. I don't want Sakura to be there, but since she's Ino's best friend, I can't really say much about it. I don't want to upset Ino. I went home and hugged Mom almost immediately.

"Did everything go okay?" She asked worriedly.

"Not completely." I said truthfully.

"What happened?" She asked frowning.

"Well, Iwase-sama made us stay in our old house." I said sighing.

"Why?" Mom asked wide-eyed.

"I'm not sure. But it was just weird. Everything was exactly how we left it. Plus, he has some new guards and we both know how he feels about outsiders." I said shaking my head. "Also, Iwase-sama added a Bath House, so we went there after working for the day and spent an hour or so there. When we came back from, all of our stuff had been gone through."

"Was anything taken?" Mom asked.

"No. But we just thought it was weird." I said folding my arms. "It still bugs me that we don't know who did it."

"I'm just glad you're okay." Mom said hugging me again. There was a knock on the door and I went to answer it.

"Satsuki! You're back!" Naruto greeted me as soon as I opened the door. I smiled.

"Hey, Naruto. Come in!" I said glad to see him.

 **A/N: Okay, so I know I didn't write a lot for this mission and I feel terrible for it, but I ran out of ideas for it. So please don't hate me! .**


	15. Chapter 14

Naruto ended up spending the night at my house that night. I talked to him about everything that happened on our (meaning: Ino, Shikamaru, and Chouji) mission and he thought it was strange that someone went through our stuff but didn't take anything, too. "So, did you have any missions while I was away?" I asked curiously. I didn't want talk about the village anymore.

"A few, but they were lame." Naruto grumbled. "First we chased a stupid cat all over the village again and guess what? It was the same cat from before! Ugh, that was so annoying. And then we had a mission where we had to help one of the shop owners do chores around their shop."

"I would've rather done that to be honest." I said sighing.

"Oh, I'm sorry, Satsuki." He said guiltily.

"Don't worry about it, Naruto." I said smiling. "Are you and Sasuke getting any closer to being friends?"

"No way!" Naruto said crossing his arms. "Why would I want to be friends with a jerk like him?"

"Come on, Naruto. You can tell me you don't want to be his friend all you want, but I know deep down you really want to." I said grinning. He pouted. "Besides, you've known him since you were smaller right?"

"Well, sort of." Naruto said shrugging. "After what happened to his clan, he kind of closed himself off to everyone. Every once in a while, I'd come across him. But we never really talked." He sighed. "I really wanted to be his friend though. I can't relate to him when it comes to losing your family, but I can relate to being lonely."

"I guess if you tried that now, he'd keep pushing you away, huh?" I said thoughtfully.

"Yeah. Everything that comes out of his mouth pisses me off." Naruto said scowling.

"Maybe that's his way of pushing you away." I said shrugging. From what it sounds like, it seems to me that Sasuke would rather just be alone. But at the same time, it also seems to me that he doesn't want to be alone. Still though, something about him just doesn't seem right to me. But I won't say anything. I don't want to upset Naruto and I don't have a right to say anything, do I? I mean, I've only lived here for a short time. Just that thought alone made me feel like an outsider again.

"Are you okay, Satsuki?" Naruto asked me.

"What you do mean?" I asked a bit shocked.

"You looked really sad for a moment." He said frowning. "Did I say something to upset you?"

"No," I said shaking my head. "You didn't do anything. I'm just being a little pessimistic. But I'm okay, I promise."

"Okay, but if you are upset about something, you'll tell me, won't you?" He asked me.

"Of course, I'll tell you." I said smiling. I couldn't ask for a better friend.

"Are you doing anything tomorrow?" Naruto asked sounding sleepy, as we got ready for bed.

"Yeah, Ino is taking me to the bathhouse. She said she was going to invite Sakura." I said getting into my bed. "Did you want to do something?"

"Can we hang out after you're done?" He asked, making himself comfortable on the floor. I don't know why he's sleeping on the floor when there's a guest room for him to sleep in, but he always does this. No matter how many times I've reminded him, he said he always felt comfortable sleeping on the floor in my room.

"I'd love to." I said smiling. "Did you have something in mind?"

"I was thinking of doing some taijutsu training with you again." Naruto said yawning. "I won't... cheat... this time..."

"You better not go back on your word." I said playfully scowling at him.

"Ha, I never go back on my word." He said confidently.

"I know." I said smiling. Finally, the two of us fell asleep. A few weeks pass by and soon, it's time for the Chuunin Exams. I'm surprised Asuma Sensei recommended us to participate. I'm sure Team 7 is going to be participating. It's exciting! It's especially exciting because Asuma Sensei found a scroll containing some Water Jutsu techniques and I managed to learn the Hidden in the Water technique. Plus, Tenten has still been helping me with my wooden staff training and has helped me keep up with my taijutsu training. She'd give me a few pointers that she'd learned from her teammate, Lee. It was great! Naruto has been serious about working on his taijutsu training as well. He's gotten so much better and from what he's told me, Kakashi Sensei, Sakura, and Sasuke were really shocked when they finally noticed it. Good! I'm glad Naruto is getting better at taijutsu. It will help him a lot in the long run, I hope.

It's great now since it was time for the Chuunin Exams. I hope I get to become a Chuunin. That being said, I think it's time for a wardrobe change. I thought after Asuma Sensei dismissed us for the day. "Satsuki, are you doing anything?" Ino asked me.

"I was thinking of doing some shopping for some new clothes. I could just have my mom make me something, but she's been really busy with work lately and I don't want to distract her from it." I said shrugging.

"Ooh, can I come along?" She asked eagerly.

"Of course, you can." I said giggling. "Shikamaru, Chouji, do either of you want to join us?"

"No thanks," Shikamaru muttered.

"Sorry, but Pa wants me home to help out Ma today." Chouji said apologetically.

"That's okay. I'll see you guys tomorrow then." I said before Ino and I took off. I stopped by home to see Mom working on some stuff for her job. "Hey Mom!"

"Satsuki, welcome home." She said smiling. "Hello Ino."

"Hello Kinoshita-san." Ino greeted her.

"Mom, Asuma Sensei recommended us for the Chuunin Exams!" I said excitedly.

"That's exciting." Mom said smiling. "Are you wanting to get a new outfit?"

"Yes, I was thinking of buying one. I know you've been busy with work." I said shrugging.

"Okay, dear. If you can't find one, then don't hesitate to ask me." She said before handing me a wallet. But it wasn't just any wallet. It was Dad's wallet.

"Thank you, Mom." I said smiling.

"You're welcome, dear." She said before Ino and I took off towards the shopping district. We happened to run into Naruto and he looked very excited.

"Satsuki!" He said before pulling me in for a hug. I laughed.

"Hey, Naruto." I said returning the hug. "I'm assuming your team is participating in the Chuunin Exams too?"

"Yeah! I'm so excited! This is going to be awesome!" Naruto responded as he let go of me. "What are you and Ino doing?"

"I'm going to get some new clothes and Ino wanted to come along with me. Care to join us?" I asked him.

"Can't, I've got to meet up with Konohamaru." Naruto said shrugging.

"Okay, then I'll see you later!" I said before he took off again.

"This is going to be interesting." Ino said excitedly. "If Kiba's team made it too, then we'll all be together again!"

"I know, it'll be great!" I said as we stopped at a shop that caught my eye. "Let's check this place out!"

"Okay!" Ino said following me inside. There were a lot of clothes to choose from and different colors. But none of them really captured my eye. They weren't anything like what Mom made me. I thought as we moved on to a different store.

"Welcome, is there anything I can help you find?" The shopkeeper asked as soon as we walked in.

"I'm looking for a new ninja outfit." I said smiling.

"Of course, did you have any colors in mind?" She asks, smiling.

"I was thinking of purple, but I really like this shade of blue." I said pointing to a vibrant light blue.

"Hm... I know just the thing!" The shopkeeper said before disappearing into a back room. She came back about five minutes later with a short kimono like my own, but instead of it being purple with pink floral patterns on it, it was black with vibrant blue butterflies on it.

"It's so pretty!" Ino said gasping.

"It's perfect!" I said excitedly. "How much?"

"Let me see..." The shop keeper said before going behind her register to look in a book. "Ah, it's a bit expensive dear."

"How much?" I asked a bit worried.

"It's 500 ryo." She said grimacing.

"Oh, I can pay that!" I said relieved. I thought it was going to be over a thousand or something.

"You can?" Ino asked surprised.

"Yeah, my mom said I can spend as much as I want on an outfit as long as it's under a thousand." I said shrugging.

"Where'd she get the money?" Ino asked frowning.

"Oh, my dad before he died, he had saved up all the money he made off of his missions for in case of an emergency. Mom told me she was going to spend that much on making me an outfit if I hadn't found one." I said shrugging.

"Oh. Are you sure it's okay to be spending that money?" Ino asked me.

"Yeah, Mom told me that Dad didn't want it to be spent on anything but me." I said hoping that was true. I can think of other things we could use this money for. Wait, didn't we technically lie to Hokage-sama about not having any money? I didn't know about it until a few weeks after coming here. I guess Mom meant what she said about Dad not wanting to spend the money on anything but me.

"Okay." Ino said shrugging. I gave the shopkeeper the money and in return I got my new outfit. The shopkeeper wrapped it up and put in a bag. I thanked the shopkeeper and then Ino and left the shop, taking off in a random direction. "Is there anything else you needed to get?"

"Nope." I said shaking my head. "Is there anything you need, Ino?"

"Seeing you get a new outfit, I kind of want to get a new one too." She said beaming. "But I have to ask my mom and dad first."

"Okay!" I said beaming at her. We stopped at the Yamanaka Flower shop. It's been a while since I've been here. I should really come here more often. I thought as I looked at all the pretty flowers.

"Hey, Ino." Ino's mom greeted.

"Hey Mom!" Ino said hugging her. "Guess what? We get to participate in the Chuunin Exams!"

"That's exciting. I can't wait to tell your father." She said chuckling. "I'm assuming that you want to get a new outfit?"

"Please Mom?" Ino pleaded.

"Okay, but let's keep this a secret from your father for now." Ino's mom said winking at her. Ino squealed.

"Thank you, Mom!" Ino said jumping up and down.

"You're very welcome, dear." Ino's mom said before handing her some money. Ino found a new purple top and skirt, but they weren't that much different from her usual outfit. Of course, I didn't say anything because Ino really liked them. After walking around a bit more with Ino, I decided to go home since it was starting to get dark. Mom wasn't home, but she left a note saying she was with Iruka Sensei. I wonder what they're doing. Oh well, I'm sure Mom will tell me about when she gets home. She also wrote that she had dinner in the fridge for her and Naruto and not to wait up for her. Hm... Just as I put the note down, Naruto walked into the kitchen.

"I'm home!" He said announcing himself. I giggled.

"Welcome home, Naruto." I said smiling. He blushed.

"I didn't even realize I said that until after it was too late." He said looking down. He wasn't embarrassed, but he did look happy.

"That's okay, Naruto." I said before hugging him.

"What's for dinner?" He asked hugging me back.

"I'm not sure. Mom is out with Iruka Sensei. She left a note saying she had dinner in the fridge." I said as we pulled out of the embrace.

"Ooh, I wonder what they're doing." Naruto said smirking.

"Let's ask them about it tomorrow." I said grinning. "Right now, I'm starving."

"Okay!" Naruto said going to the fridge. We got dinner ready and started eating. "You'll never guess who I met today."

"Oh, who did you meet?" I asked curiously.

"These Sand ninjas. Konohamaru, Moegi, and Udon accidently ran into one of them and apologized to them for it. But one of the Sand ninjas was a jerk and started causing trouble." Naruto huffed.

"Let me guess. You got yourself mixed up in it and made it worse?" I asked smirking at him.

"No!" Naruto said crossing his arms. "Well... maybe. But it's not my fault they were picking on my friends!"

"I'm assuming Sasuke showed up or something and defused the whole situation." I said giggling.

"Yeah, something like that." Naruto said sulkily.

"I'm assuming they're here for the Chuunin Exams too, huh?" I said thoughtfully.

"Yeah. I'm sure Kakashi Sensei is going to hear about it and give me a lecture." Naruto said sighing.

"Or worse, Hokage-sama might hear about it." I said unhelpfully. Naruto shuddered.

"I don't want to think about it anymore." He said before shoving food into his mouth.

"Okay," I said smiling and continued eating my own food. The Chuunin Exams were going to be interesting.


	16. Chapter 15

It's the day of the first part for the Chuunin Exams. I'm really nervous, but I'm excited about it. Apparently, we're supposed to be at the Academy at 8 am. Naruto had stayed the night last night again. We questioned Mom about what she and Iruka Sensei did that one night and she just blushed. She told use that they just hung out for a while. Right... Well, I'm just glad that she looks really happy whenever Iruka Sensei is brought up. Anyway, I put on my new kimono on and decided to leave my Dad's headband at home. I love him and miss him, but it seems kind of silly to keep wearing it. Maybe I can get Mom to help me find something cool to do with it. Naruto and I ate breakfast and then we met up with our teams and continued to the Academy. It's been awhile since I've last been there. I wonder if it's nostalgic for the others. When we got there, we saw Kiba, Hinata, and Shino. I also happened to see Tenten and her two teammates. I assumed that the one with the bowl cut was Lee and the other one must be Neji. I heard he's Hinata's cousin. I can see the resemblance, kind of. Our little group talked for a little bit before we made our way up to the third floor where the first part of the exam would be held. On the second floor, there seemed to be some trouble with some people blocking one of the doors. They were claiming it was the room we were supposed to be in. I rolled my eyes. This has to be a genjutsu. I thought as it appeared to be right room.

"Release!" Sakura said, concentrating. "It's just a genjutsu." The crowd moaned and grumbled at the idiots who put the genjutsu up. So stupid.

"Come on, let's go or we'll be late." I said to Ino, Chouji, Shikamaru, and Naruto. They nodded, and we headed up to the right floor. Sakura and Sasuke followed us. Walking into the room, I immediately felt the intense atmosphere. "Why does everyone look so grumpy?" I mutter under my breath. Ino giggled.

"Satsuki, only you would be brave enough to say that." She said shaking her head.

"Why? Just because we're in the presence of ninja who aren't from our village, that doesn't make them automatically scary." I said rolling my eyes. I got some glares from said ninjas. "Anyway, I'm sure everyone is just tense because of the Exams."

"Satsuki, please stop talking." Sakura whispered, wide-eyed as more of the other ninjas in the room glared in our direction.

"Okay." I said shrugging.

"It's been awhile since we've seen everyone." Kiba commented.

"Yeah, we've all been very busy." Chouji said smiling.

"I honestly didn't think everyone was going to participate in the Chuunin Exams this year." Shikamaru said sighing. "Man, this is such a drag."

"Hey, remember what Asuma Sensei said." Chouji said narrowing his eyes at his friend.

"Yeah, if get through to the third round, he's going to buy us barbeque at Chouji's favorite restaurant." I said grinning.

"I don't think you understand the situation you're in, Kinoshita Satsuki." Some guy with gray hair and glasses said from behind us.

"What do you care?" I asked, not liking the vibe I was getting from him. How does he know my name? Also, I don't like what he's insinuating. I feel like he knows something that we don't. I don't trust him. "You know it's rude to butt in on someone else's conversation."

"I apologize." The guy said coolly.

"Who are you?" Naruto asked scowling at him.

"I'm Kabuto." The guy responded. "I've taken this exam three times. I merely like to gather information about my enemies before it starts. So, don't be surprised that I already know your names and about your strengths and weaknesses."

"I don't care what you know, but I'd appreciate it if you left us alone." I said scowling at him.

"Hmph," Kabuto said before walking off.

"Creep." I muttered as Ino stared at me shocked.

"Why did you treat him that way?" She asked me wide-eyed.

"I get the feeling that he's not a good person." I said, sighing. "If I feel that they're not a good person, then I don't want them near me or my friends."

"Oh, I guess that makes sense." Ino muttered.

"You're very protective of your friends." Shino pointed out.

"Of course! I always look out for my friends." I said smiling. "I'll look out for you, too."

"Thank you." Shino said, and I couldn't really tell, but I think he was smiling too. Finally, we took our seat and the proctor walked into the room.

"Alright everyone! Listen up! I'll only say this once!" The Proctor said scowling at us. "My name is Ibiki and I'll be your proctor for the first part of the Exams. First things first, there is a piece of paper sitting in front of you. When I say so, you will flip it over and begin the written part of this Exam!" I looked over at Naruto worriedly and I could tell he was agonizing. Written tests weren't exactly his thing. "There will be no cheating! If one of your teammates are caught, the whole team fails. At the end of this test, I will give the tenth and final question." There were some small gasps and murmurs before everyone went quiet again. I see, so this is a team effort. He added in some "threatening" comments, but I didn't feel the need to pay attention to those. Finally, it was time to start the written test. I flipped over my paper and realized that the questions weren't going to be very easy to answer. Naruto isn't going to get any of these. I thought worriedly. I wonder what the goal is here. He said that there wasn't any cheating allowed, but how are we supposed to answer these questions if we don't cheat? I wonder if Shikamaru has figured this out. I bet he has. I thought as I spotted him sneakily using his Shadow Possession Jutsu. He picked Chouji first. Good call. It's too bad he can't control three people at once.

Naruto looked like he was really freaking out. I wish there was some way that I could help him. I spotted Sakura breezing through the questions. Of course, she'd have no trouble. Sasuke probably won't have trouble either. I thought as I spotted him using his Sharingan on someone. Is he following their pen movements? That's a Uchiha for you, I guess. I actually tried some of the questions myself and I struggled a bit. I suddenly felt like my movements weren't my own and tried really hard not to react. It was amazing as my hand went over the paper and I started writing answers down. Shikamaru is the best. I thought giddily. In a matter of minutes, all of the questions were answered. I could move my hands freely now. Thanks, Shikamaru! I thought before looking around to find Naruto. He was still struggling, and I spotted Hinata sitting next to him too. She was nervously side-eyeing him. I saw a small movement and for a second it looked like she was going to let him cheat off of her. But Naruto figured out what she was doing and declined the offer. I can tell he doesn't want Hinata to get into trouble. He's so freaking selfless. He'd rather struggle alone rather than drag someone along.

As the test went on, almost half of the groups in here were being escorted out. Naruto wasn't looking too good either. Eventually, he snapped and stood up, glaring at Ibiki-san. He went into a whole speech and it was actually really inspiring. All of those who looked like they were going to give up, looked determined now. I really admire the way Naruto can inspire so many by just a few words. He really doesn't understand how much he brings others together. The first part of the Exams finally came to a close and we all passed. Yes! I met up with my team and Naruto outside of the room. "Great job, Naruto." I told him smiling.

"Thanks," He said rubbing the back of his head as he smiled sheepishly.

"I'm just glad we made it through that." Ino said looking relieved. Sakura called Naruto over to her and Sasuke, as Kakashi Sensei approached them.

"Let's go find Asuma Sensei!" Chouji said excitedly.

"Okay!" Ino said smiling. Shikamaru and I just followed the two all the way out of the Academy. Asuma Sensei was outside waiting for us.

"How'd it go?" Asuma Sensei asked curiously.

"We passed!" Ino, Chouji, and I said excitedly.

"That's great! Congratulations you four!" Asuma Sensei said grinning. "We'll celebrate with barbeque!"

"Yay!" We cheered. I can't wait to tell Mom about this! At the restaurant, Chouji and I recounted everything that happened during the first part of the Exam to Asuma Sensei. Shikamaru mentioned that Kabuto guy to Asuma Sensei.

"He's failed three times already, you say? There's nothing wrong with that." Asuma Sensei said shaking his head. "Also, I'm not surprised that he would have information on the other participants."

"But Asuma Sensei, this is the first time we've participated. How would he know anything about us?" I asked frowning.

"That is a bit discerning, but it's no secret who is participating and who isn't." Asuma Sensei said, sounding not worried at all.

"But," I said with a sense of urgency.

"Satsuki don't worry about it. If you still feel that way about this kid after the next part of the Exams, then I'll look into it." Asuma Sensei said smiling.

"Fine." I said sulkily. I doubt my feelings about this guy will ever change, but if Asuma Sensei is just going to shrug it off. I won't keep badgering him about it. After having barbeque, I decided to go home and tell Mom about passing. Naruto caught up with me. "Hey, Naruto."

"We just had celebratory ramen!" Naruto said excitedly.

"That sounds good." I said smiling. I kind of wish I could have been there with them. "We had barbeque."

"Ooh, that sounds yummy." Naruto said drooling. I giggled.

"Didn't you eat your fill at Ichiraku's?" I asked him.

"No, Kakashi Sensei wouldn't let me have more than two bowls." Naruto said sulkily as he crossed his arms.

"I'm sure Mom will make a big dinner tonight." I said grinning.

"I'm looking forward to it!" Naruto said excitedly. "We're telling her we passed right?"

"Of course!" I said as we finally made it home. "Mom, we're back!"

"Welcome home!" Mom greeted as we walked into the living room. She had some fabric sitting next to her on the couch and Dad's headband. I knew she could do something with it.

"Mom, we passed!" Naruto excitedly. Then he blushed. "S-sorry."

"Don't apologize." Mom said smiling. "I'm proud of you two." Naruto looked relieved at that.

"Thanks!" I said smiling. "What are you making?"

"I'm not entirely sure yet. I'm just experimenting. I wanted to do something with your father's headband, but I don't know what yet." She said setting the fabric aside.

"How's work?" I asked her.

"It's going well. Shimura-san has been treating me well." Mom said, smiling. "We've gotten a lot of business since I started working there. Apparently, my designs are very popular. Oh, Naruto, do you mind wearing some clothes I made? Shimura-san saw what I made for Satsuki and wondered if I could do anything for males."

"I don't mind!" Naruto said excitedly. I can't wait to see this!


	17. Chapter 16

It's the day of the second part of the Exam. Naruto is wearing the outfit Mom made for him. He's wearing an orange jacket, but it's mainly black with orange stripes down the sleeves and it has the symbol that you see a lot throughout the village on the back of it. His pants are also black with orange strips down the side. "How do I look?" Naruto asked giddily as he turned around.

"You look great!" I said giggling.

"I'm glad you like them." Mom said happily. Naruto have her a hug and Mom hugged him back, looking a bit surprised.

"Thank you so much!" Naruto said, and I could see some tears coming down his face.

"You're so very welcome, Naruto-kun." Mom said smiling. It's literally like we've adopted him. It makes me happy to see them both so happy. Naruto pulled away, laughing a little as he wiped his eyes. Together, Naruto and I headed over to where the next part of the Exam is taking place.

"No one has ever been so nice to me like you and your mom." Naruto admitted, sheepishly.

"I'm sorry you've had to live such a hard life." I said, wishing I could have been there for him when he was younger.

"It's no big deal." Naruto said shrugging. "I've gotten used to it." But no one should be used to that... I didn't want to say that out loud, so I grabbed his hand and gave it a squeeze.

"What do you think we're going to do next?" I asked, deciding it was best to change the subject.

"Well, considering where we're going, I'd say it has something to do with the Forest of Death." Naruto said shrugging.

"Forest of Death?" I asked raising an eyebrow.

"It's just a nickname for one of our training grounds. It's not used a lot because of the overgrown trees." Naruto said shrugging.

"I don't think that's the only reason." I said as we finally arrived at our destination. I could hear roars from animals that I couldn't recognize. Naruto just grins at me.

"Satsuki!" Ino said as she, Shikamaru, and Chouji made their way to me.

"Hey!" I said grinning. "Are we late?"

"Nope, you're right on time." Chouji said smiling.

"Good!" Naruto said throwing his arms behind his head and letting out a laugh. Sakura and Sasuke joined us. I looked around and spotted the creep with his team. I don't feel like they're much of a team. Well, with that creep's personality, I can see why. We chatted for a bit before our next proctor, Anko-san, showed up.

"Alright, maggots! Welcome to the Forest of Death!" She said grinning as she looked around at us. What a lovely woman. I thought, holding back an eye roll. She explains the rules and I'm assuming in a way to make us nervous, she told us that we had to fill out a form that states that Konoha is not responsible for whatever happens in the Forest of Death. And we had to have them filled out by a certain time too. Yep, they're definitely trying to make us really nervous and anxious. We filled out the forms and Shikamaru turned them in. In return we got a heaven scroll. Team 7 got an earth scroll. Hm... so basically, we just have to get one of each scroll and take it to the structure circled on the map we received.

"Come on, we've got to go to our gate." Shikamaru said as frowning.

"Come on, Shikamaru! At least be a little excited." Ino huffed.

"Do you know what type of creatures are in this forest? And I'm sure there were Chuunin Exams held here before, so there's probably some old traps in there that we have to look out for." Shikamaru said sighing. "So, I'm sorry if I'm not excited about it."

"I was thinking of how we're going to get an earth scroll from another team." I said grinning.

"What's your idea?" Chouji asked curiously.

"We set traps of our own, or if we stumble across some pre-existing ones, we can use those." I said shrugging.

"We won't know what kind of traps those are." Shikamaru said thoughtfully. "Most likely they were set to seriously injure someone."

"That's the whole point of this exercise, right?" I said frowning. "How else are we supposed to get the scrolls? There's no way another team is just going to hand it over if we talk to them."

"Yeah, but we don't want to kill them." Ino said frowning.

"Well, then what's the point of being a Shinobi? I'm not saying I'm going to just kill someone because I want to. I'm saying that there's no escaping the chance of someone being killed." I said bluntly.

"I agree with you, but this is the Chuunin Exams." Shikamaru said exasperatedly. I decide not to respond to him and shrug instead. I'm sure if any of the ninjas from out of Konoha would laugh if they heard this conversation. It wouldn't matter to them if this was the Chuunin Exams or not. From what I've researched about the Chuunin Exams, lives have been taken during these and that didn't stop the Chuunin Exams from continuing. I had to remind myself that these three hasn't lost anyone precious to them. They don't know grief and pain that comes with that. Sasuke would understand though. I thought with a funny jolt. I guess there's something common between the two of us. Only, I'm pretty sure Sasuke is hellbent on getting revenge. My thoughts were cut short when the ninja standing by our gate door undid the chains.

"Good luck." He said before we went inside. The Forest of Death is very massive and dense. I thought as we made our way through the trees. Plus, the ground was uneven and sharp rocks and roots protruded through the ground. If you weren't paying attention, you could get seriously hurt from the terrain itself.

"Let's go to the trees." Shikamaru suggested. We nodded and followed his lead. "Remember, keep a look out for traps and the other teams." I hope Naruto makes it out of here okay. "Since our goal is to go towards the middle of this forest, we'll head that way." We went on like this for an hour or two, before I heard something next to us.

"Guys!" I called, and we stopped and listened. A kunai came out at us and we easily dodged it. It was either a trap or one of the other teams. I'm betting on it being another team. It was another team. They were from the Village Hidden in the Stones.

"It looks like we've found us some flies." One of them said cockily. I rolled my eyes. It didn't take us long to subdue them.

"Oh, we're lucky, they have an Earth scroll!" I said grinning as I pulled it out of a pouch on one of the ninjas.

"Good job, let's get out of here then." Ino said shuddering a bit. We nod and continue to make our way to the middle of the forest. We got it easy, but I doubt Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura will have the same luck. I thought frowning. Please, let them be okay. As it started to get dark, Shikamaru suggested they make a camp.

"We're near a stream, so we can have fish." I said smiling. "I'll go collect some."

"Take Chouji with you. I don't want any one of us to be alone." Shikamaru said frowning.

"Okay," Chouji said before following me. "I brought some spices!"

"Ooh, then these will definitely be delicious." I said excitedly. Chouji and I returned to our makeshift camp and found that they got a fire going.

"We shouldn't stay here for too long." Ino said uneasily looking around.

"I agree. After our food is cooked, we should put the fire as soon as possible." Shikamaru said nodding. A day or so passes when we run into Naruto's team. They looked worse for wear. Sasuke was out cold, Naruto was in bad shape, but he was conscious, and Sakura was shaken, but she was in better shape than the other two. They got both of their scrolls, but they weren't happy about it. I don't know what happened to them (since Naruto and Sakura won't tell me), but I hope that it wasn't too traumatizing. I did spot something on Sasuke's neck, but I didn't question it. Maybe I should bring that up with Kakashi Sensei or Asuma Sensei if I see them; although I'm sure Sasuke will be taken to wherever the medical area is set up if he's still unconscious by the time they reach the tower. Well, anyway, we parted from them and made it to the tower without any more interruptions. We relaxed a bit once we were inside and being led to a room. We were instructed to open our scrolls at the same time. Shikamaru took one and I took the other and on a count to three, we opened them. I'm not sure what I was expecting, but I definitely didn't expect Asuma Sensei to show up.

"Congratulations, you four pass on to the next round!" Asuma Sensei said cheerfully.

"Yay!" Ino, Chouji, and I cheered.

"Now, before I let you go, there's some information I have to tell you." He said seriously. We nodded and listened to him as he told us about what's going to happen next. Basically, we're having a preliminary round because so many of us passed the second task and those of us left over will be moving on to the third and final task. So, for the preliminary round we'll be fighting one-on-one and the pairs will be randomized. We'll be staying in the tower until the preliminary round is over. Afterwards, Asuma Sensei wished us good luck and told us where our room would be before disappearing. I hope Naruto and the other two made here safely. We walked outside of the room we were in and went searching for our room.

"At least we'll get to rest up before the preliminary round starts." Ino said looking relieved.

"Yeah, but that's because they're still waiting for the other teams to get here." Shikamaru said sighing. "What a drag..."

"Don't worry Shikamaru, we can definitely beat the preliminary round!" Chouji said optimistically as he munched on some chips. Where did he get those? And why isn't he sharing? Well, actually I know why. Chouji only shares his chips when you're really close friends. He shares them with Shikamaru all the time and he offers them to Ino, but she always turns him down because she's on some stupid diet, that she doesn't even need. He's never offered them to me, but that's to be expected. We've only known each other for months whereas he's known the other two since they were little kids. A day passes by when everyone finally arrives. I immediately go looking Naruto and find him and the other two walking towards what I assume is their room. They looked like crap.

"Naruto, are you guys okay?" I asked worriedly. Sasuke rolls his eyes and walks past me. Sakura sends an apologetic smile and goes after him. "Naruto?"

"I'm okay, Satsuki." Naruto said smiling. "We barely made it though."

"I'm so glad you and your team are okay." I said hugging him.

"Thanks." Naruto said hugging me back. His clothes were tattered, and I can only guess they got into a serious fight.

"Come find me if you need to talk, okay?" I told him as we pulled away from each other.

"I will, I promise. I've got to go." He said sighing.

"Okay. I'll see you later." I told him smiling. He nods and goes after his teammates. Whatever happened to them, it was bad. I bit my lower lip, a little worried.

"Is everything okay, Satsuki?" Chouji asked me as he and the other two walked up to me.

"I hope so." I said sighing.

"Come on, everyone's lining up." Shikamaru told me. I nodded and followed them.


	18. Chapter 17

As soon as everyone lined up, Hokage-sama made a speech and told us exactly what Asuma Sensei told us on what we're doing for the next task. Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura still looked worried about something, but I didn't say anything to them. I hope everything is okay with them. Everyone is told to go up to the viewing area and to come down when their name is called. I watched as the machine used to randomize the opponents went off. It looks like the first match is between Sasuke and a leaf ninja, whom I've never met, named Yoroi Akadou. I frowned. Sasuke still looked like crap, but he had a little bit of a rest it seems. He and his opponent faced each other. The match was over in under five minutes. Sasuke beat the guy, but he seemed to have issues with whatever was on his neck. Kakashi Sensei ended up taking him to the infirmary. The next match was Shino and a sound ninja named Zaku Abumi. Shino won his match as well. It was amazing. I'd never seen Shino fight before. I didn't realize how awesome the Aburame Clan were. The next match was a sand ninja named Kankuro against the leaf ninja, Misumi Tsurugi. Again, I don't know this leaf ninja. I'm assuming he and the first one was on Kabuto's team. That creep. I was really amazed by Kankuro's puppets. It was unique to me mostly because I'd never seen that before.

The next match was Ino and Sakura. "Good luck, Ino!" I told her before she went to the first floor.

"Thanks, Satsuki!" She said beaming at me. In the time that Sakura had been in the Forest of Death, I could tell that she's gotten stronger. She's got motivation now it seems. Whatever happened to Team 7 must've put something in perspective for her. I'm glad that she's motivated to be a real kunoichi now. It's too bad that she and Ino knocked each other out though. They're not only best friends, but they're rivals too. Temari of the sand and Tenten were up next. It was grueling to see Tenten getting beaten like that. I could feel her pain just watching it. Shikamaru's match was next and he was up against a sound kunoichi by the name of Kin Tsuchi.

"What a drag..." Shikamaru said sighing.

"Good luck, Shikamaru!" Chouji and I said smiling.

"Thanks." He muttered before making his way down to the first floor. Kin Tsuchi used sound and her senbon as weapons. Poor Shikamaru had struggled but eventually trapped her with his Shadow Possession jutsu. The next match was two cloud ninja named Jiro and Nabi. They were both equally good, but it seemed Nabi, a girl with long white hair, light blue eyes, and lightly tanned skin, had won the match. I heard a guy, whom I assume is their teammate, mutter something that sounded like idiot under his breath. He looked amused when he said this. I looked at him a little and noticed that he had long blond hair, tied back and round, dark green eyes. He was tan-skinned, and he had sharp cheek bones. He's wearing a white shirt and shorts with fishnet shirt underneath his shirt. His headband was tied around his neck and his ninja tools pouch was attached to his right leg. He was maybe a few inches taller than me and boy did he look handsome. Of course, I'd never say that out loud. The next match was Naruto's and he was up against Kiba.

"Good luck Naruto!" I said beaming at him.

"Thanks!" Naruto said before jumping down. Kiba and Akamaru were already waiting for him and the proctor started the match. Naruto seemed to struggle a bit halfway through the fight and when it looked like he was about to do something, he ended up farting. Sakura yelled at him and Naruto, a tad embarrassed, argued that he didn't mean to. But Kiba and Akamaru were howling with their noses scrunched up. Naruto didn't waste time and used this to take them out. I giggled. That's my brother for you.

"Satsuki Kinoshita and Rin Morikawa, you're up!" The proctor yelled. Rin was the boy that I saw earlier. Sweet! I thought grinning.

"Good luck, Satsuki!" Chouji said beaming at me.

"Yeah, go kick his ass!" Naruto said grinning.

"I'll try my best." I said smiling before jumping down. Rin frowned a bit when I landed in front of him.

"You're a girl..." He muttered.

"So?" I asked, confused. He shook his head.

"It's nothing." He said before going quiet. Weird. Oh well. I thought as I got ready.

"Start!" The proctor said, and Rin wasted no time and charged at me. I dodged him and pulled out one of my scrolls that has my staff in it. I summoned my staff and stashed the scroll. Rin did some hand signs and said, "Lightning Pulse!" He thrusted one of his hands at me and I dodged it. I went forward and attacked him with my staff. I wish Tenten was here to see me. I got a few hits, sending him back a few feet. He countered with his feet and I blocked them with my staff. He went after me again with another Lightning Pulse attack and nearly got me. I jumped away and he ended up hitting the ground, creating a small crater. I ran after him, staff ready, and he used Lightning Pulse again. Only he used it on my staff, causing it to snap in half. Crap. I jumped out of the way as he threw a punch in my direction.

"Water Clone jutsu!" I said creating three clones. The three of us ran at him and attacked him from all sides. We got all our hits in and knocked him out.

"The winner is Satsuki Kinoshita!" The proctor announced. I released my water clones as my friends cheered. I smiled and returned to my spot next to Chouji, Shikamaru, and Asuma Sensei. The next match was between Neji and Hinata. Oh, this doesn't look like it's going to end well for Hinata. Naruto gave her a lot of encouragement though. Neji just kept giving Naruto nasty glares. So, I glared at him. Throughout the whole fight he kept talking about fate and destiny. It was kind of really annoying. At the end of it, he did beat Hinata. He pissed off Naruto and Naruto went down there, gave a speech to Neji (who pretty much ignored him), and helped Hinata. After that it was Gaara of the Sand and Lee. I could feel the murder intent coming from Gaara as soon as the match started. I don't like it. I hope Lee is okay after this. Lee was barely fast enough to beat Gaara's sand defense. Kankuro was boasting about Gaara and whatnot. I didn't really pay too much attention to him though. I was more concerned about Lee. Lee ended up landing on the giant statue on the back wall.

"Go ahead and take them off Lee!" Gai Sensei yelled giving him a double thumbs up.

"But Gai Sensei! You said to only do that in a state of an emergency!" Lee said wide-eyed.

"I'm giving you permission!" Gai Sensei said smiling. Lee looked so freaking happy. What were they talking about?

"Okay!" Lee said sitting down. He pulled off some leg weights. What the ever-loving fuck? Excuse my language. Did Tenten know he was wearing those? Probably. How come I never noticed!? Lee dropped the weights onto the floor and the weight of them shocked every person in the room. How much did those things weigh!? I'm beginning to understand Tenten when she says Lee is crazy. Even though removing the weights increased his speed, it still wasn't enough as Gaara crushed his leg with the sand. Gaara looked like he'd kill him if it weren't for Gai Sensei stopping the fight. Poor Lee. The very last match was the sound ninja Dosu Kinuta and Chouji.

"Good luck, Chouji." I said smiling at him. Chouji nodded, looking a bit nervous. Unfortunately, Chouji was no match for the sound ninja and ended up needing to be taken out of the room on a gurney. Poor Chouji.

"That concludes the preliminary rounds!" The proctor announced. "Those moving on are: Gaara of the Sand, Temari, Kankuro, Dosu Kinuta, Sasuke Uchiha, Neji Hyuuga, Naruto Uzumaki, Shikamaru Nara, Shino Aburame, Nabi Fujioka, and Satsuki Kinoshita! There will be a one-month period before the finals! More information on this will be given to each participant from the Jonin sensei!" After that, we were all free to leave the tower and the Forest of Death. That's a relief. I thought as I followed the others. I decided to check on Chouji and Ino. I ended up running into Rin Morikawa, literally. We both ended up falling flat on our butts.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I wasn't watching where I was going." I said apologetically as he got up.

"It's okay." He said smiling. He held out his hand and I took it. "My name is Rin by the way."

"Satsuki." I said after he pulled me up. "That was a good match."

"Yes, but I'll get you next time." He said winking at me. I blushed a little as he walked away.

"We'll see about that." I called out to him. He just waved as he kept going. I rolled my eyes and finally made it to the infirmary. Naruto was in there as well. I suppose he was checking on Sakura and Sasuke. "Hey." I greeted him.

"Hey," He said smiling at me. "Good job out there."

"You too!" I said beaming at him. We talked a bit and waited for our teammates to come around.

"Satsuki, where's Shikamaru and Asuma Sensei?" Ino asked as she and Chouji sat up, wincing a bit.

"I'm not sure. We can go find them when you're feeling up to it." I said smiling.

"Does that mean we get to have barbeque now?" Chouji asked almost drooling.

"Probably." I said giggling as Ino scrunched up her nose. I waved at Naruto before the three of us went and met up with Shikamaru and Asuma Sensei.

"Congratulations, Satsuki and Shikamaru." Asuma Sensei said as we made our way out of the Forest of Death. "Shall we go out for barbeque to celebrate?"

"Actually, can we go out for ramen instead?" I asked curiously.

"I have no complaints." Asuma Sensei said looking at the other three.

"That's fine with me." Ino said smiling.

"Me too!" Chouji said nodding.

"Alright," Shikamaru said sighing. I can almost hear him calling it a drag in his head.

"Yay!" I said happily. It's been a while since I've had it. I hope to see Naruto there. We made it out of the forest and into the village. I greeted Teuchi-san and Ayame nee-chan when we got there. A few hours later and I'm on my way home. The ramen always tastes better after victory. But it'll always taste good no matter what. Naruto was also there along with Sakura. Sasuke and Kakashi Sensei weren't there though. Apparently Sasuke hadn't woken up yet and was moved to the hospital. Sakura and Naruto seemed bummed out about it, but they didn't speak any more about it. Naruto decided to come home with me and spend the night. "What are you going to work on before the final task?" I asked him curiously.

"I'm not sure yet." Naruto said shrugging. "I was going to ask Kakashi Sensei to train me, but it feels like he's going to train Sasuke instead."

"I'm sorry." I said sympathetically.

"That's okay. I'm sure I can find someone." Naruto said smiling.

"But first, let's get some much-needed rest." I said chuckling.

"Yeah, that sounds wonderful." Naruto said looking like he really just wanted to go to bed. "I feel bad about messing up the clothes your mom made me, though."

"That's okay. I'm sure she doesn't mind fixing them." I said smiling at him. The two of us finally get home and Mom is waiting for us.

"Welcome home, you two." She said smiling. "I heard you both are moving onto the final task. Congratulations!"

"Thanks!" Naruto and I said beaming at her.

"I bet you two had celebratory ramen too." She said amused.

"Of course!" Naruto said grinning. Mom chuckled.

"You two look tired. I'll let you go to bed. Oh, and Naruto, just leave your clothes out." Mom said before we went to my room.

"Okay." Naruto said yawning a bit. We took turns in the bath and went to bed. I almost instantly fell asleep. I missed my bed. I thought as I sunk into the mattress. "Good night, Satsuki."

"Good night, Naruto." I murmured, closing my eyes. It wasn't long before I could hear Naruto's breathing slow down and then he started snoring. It wasn't easy to get used to at first, but now I'm used to it. I followed Naruto soon after, wondering if Asuma Sensei could help me learn a new jutsu.


End file.
